Far Apart
by pcworth
Summary: Maura finds herself at odds against the people she works with and with the Rizzoli clan when she is accused of murder.
1. Chapter 1

NOTE: I do not own Rizzoli & Isles. I am just a fan. This is my first Rizzles piece, so I hope you like it.

* * *

Maura sat there not listening, not comprehending.

It wasn't possible was all she kept thinking. It wasn't possible.

"Maura, can you tell us where you were on the dates in question?" Lt. Sean Cavanaugh asked.

"My client isn't going to answer any questions," her attorney said.

"Maura, we need your help on this," Cavanaugh said. "Now we know this is a hard time for you, but we're all a family here, you know that."

"This interview is over," the attorney said.

Cavanaugh knew he had no choice. He looked once more at Maura, who was sitting there staring at her hands – no not her hands, just her left one, the one which once had her wedding band on it.

He left the interrogation room and went back to where his team had been continuing to work.

"What did Maura say?" Frost asked.

"She lawyered up," Cavanaugh responded.

"Let me talk to her," Frankie said.

"You can't. We can't go near her, her lawyer will see to that. She should bond out soon enough, so tell me what we got here."

"The techs are still at the house," Korsak said. "We heard back from the Maine State Patrol, they are done processing the car."

"And?"

"The trunk was soaked in blood. Between it and the summer house, their ME says if the blood belongs to just one person, that person is …"

He couldn't finish saying it.

"Alright people," Cavanaugh said. "We do this by the books. We have to work with the authorities in Maine, but this is still our case. Detective Rizzoli was one of us, and we're not going to rest until we find out who is responsible. No matter who that person may be. Dr. Pike has been put in charge of the Medical Examiner's Office while Dr. Isles is on suspension. After you know something, I want to know it. Understood? Good, get to work."

He approached Frost, Korsak and Frankie.

"You don't really think Dr. Isles did this, do you?" Frost asked.

"I don't know," Cavanaugh said. "Frankie, maybe you should be with your mom right now."

"No. This is where I need to be. If Jane was here and the situation was reversed, this is where she would be."

"Fair enough. Now I know enough of the office chatter to know what happened between Maura and Jane, but now I need you all to tell it to me straight. I need to know everything, the affair, their divorce, the last time you spoke to each of them, their mental states as far as you could tell. I need to know if Dr. Isles was really capable of killing Jane."

…

Maura didn't look at anyone as her attorney led her out of the precinct after posting bail. She felt his hand on her elbow leading her, but she tried to block the rest of it out. How many times had she walked out of this building with Jane? How many times had she had to work late, only to find Jane waiting for her? How many times had she come back in the building when Jane was working a tough case and had forgotten to eat, so Maura brought her dinner?

They got to a town car and her attorney, a man named Kevin Dalton, held the door open for her. Her phone call had been to her mother and the next thing she knew Mr. Dalton was there representing her. He slid into the back seat with her.

"The first thing you need to do is make sure you do not talk to them Dr. Isles. Unless I am present, you will not speak to any of your co-workers. That also goes for you former in-laws," Dalton said. "We can't give them any ammunition to use against you."

Maura merely looked out the window as the car began to move.

"Your house is still considered a crime scene so your mother has arranged lodging for you at a hotel. She is flying in tonight," he said. "We need to start by establishing your alibi for the time of the murder and work from there. Luck is on our side in that there is no body."

"What did you just say?"

"I said we're lucky there is no body. Juries find it hard to convict when there isn't actual evidence from the body. A fact I am sure you are aware of."

"Don't you ever refer to Jane as a body in my presence ever again," Maura snapped.

"Of course, I apologize."

"She was my wife. I loved her."


	2. Chapter 2

Constance was beyond the point of being worried about Maura. It was as if her whole life had crumbled around her. First it was the divorce, then Jane's disappearance and murder, her arrest and eventual indictment for murder, it was if Maura had lost all will to live. Constance had canceled her tour and effectively moved in with daughter just to keep an eye on her.

Most days Maura did next to nothing, but each night she went to bed to in a Boston Red Sox T-shirt that Jane had bought her. Maura admitted to her mother that it was really the only thing she had left that Jane had been in contact with.

Jane had been declared legally dead by Dr. Pike although there was no body. The blood evidence was enough to get the death certificate or so Constance had understood. She had gone to see Angela a couple of weeks after the funeral, but Angela didn't want to see her. Tommy had apologized to her, just telling her it was too soon.

Constance couldn't imagine what it was like for Angela. To lose a child, your only daughter.

Maura had waived her right to a speedy trial at her arraignment where Dalton entered a not guilty plea on her behalf. The paper the next day ran a photo of Maura in court and a secondary photo of Jane and Maura on their wedding day.

She remembered how happy Maura was that day. She was nervous about a million different things before hand, but once she stepped down that aisle and saw Jane waiting for her, everything else didn't seem to matter. Constance always believed the day Maura chose to get married, she would be married for life.

She never envisioned Maura getting divorced. Then again, she never imagined Jane would cheat on Maura but she had. Once Maura found out the marriage had quickly unraveled.

Then the day after the divorce papers were signed, Jane was gone.

Today was going to be another rough day for Maura as they were due at the attorney's office to review some things for the trial. While the trial itself was months away, all eyes in Boston were going to be on it. And they needed to be prepared.

After all, Maura didn't have an alibi.

…

They arrived at the attorney's office and one of Dalton's assistants led them to a man whom Constance didn't recognize. Once they introduced to him, she recognized the name Gary Stipling as the investigator that Dalton had hired to work the evidence.

Dalton turned over the meeting to Stipling.

"Here is what we know," Stipling started out as he started a presentation that was projected on a screen. "Detective Rizzoli was served with the divorce papers on Monday, the 24th. She left work that day requesting some time off. On Tuesday, the 25th, the divorce papers were in a FedEx envelope signed and electronically scanned at pick up at the box down the street from where she was living. By Saturday, the 29th her family had officially reported her as missing because no one had seen her since she left work that Monday. She wasn't answering her phone which was off and the battery removed to prevent any type of tracking. She did not answer at her apartment and her brother Frankie used his spare key on that Thursday but found she wasn't there. Her police issue vehicle was also gone."

"During this time, you Dr. Isles were at your cabin in Maine. You arrived there on Tuesday. You were informed of Detective Rizzoli's disappearance by her mother Angela who had called you on Sunday, the 30th to see if perhaps you knew where she was or had heard from her."

As he said each date a timeline began to fill in on the screen.

"The divorce papers had arrived at their destination on Thursday, the 27th. They were processed by the court on Friday, the 28th ending your 22-month marriage. You returned to Boston on that Monday despite having taken two weeks off of work and previously saying you going to be out of town for the duration of it. Might I ask why you came back?"

"I … Jane wouldn't take off like that. At the very least Frankie would know where she was or at least he would have been in contact with her," Maura said softly.

"Did you suspect something had happened to her?"

"I don't know. She just wouldn't do that is all."

"On Wednesday, the 3rd, a state patrol officer in Maine found a car down an embankment in a remote area of the state. He went down to investigate and found blood inside the cab of the car. He called it in, the license plate was ran and it came back as belonging to the city of Boston. It was the missing car that had been assigned to Detective Rizzoli."

"They had it brought back up onto the road and inside the trunk were much more blood, along with human hair. Now according to the analysis we received through discovery the DNA results from the hair, which had included part of the root, along with the blood, came back as Detective Rizzoli."

"The coroner in Maine came to the conclusion that based on the amount of blood, Detective Rizzoli could not have survived that kind of blood loss. His findings were backed up by Dr. Pike. The car had been found less than five miles from your cabin. At this point the case went from missing persons to a homicide investigation. The Maine authorities obtained a search warrant for your cabin quicker than the police did here for your Boston home."

"At the cabin they found a shirt – a button up dress shirt, which Detective Rizzoli had last been seen in when she left work that day. It had her blood on it, and some strands of hair later identified as yours. The shirt was found in an outside trash under other items. Authorities also found what they believed to be the murder weapon – a scalpel, which had your fingerprints on it and which can easily be traced back to you as you had specialty ordered it along with others like it last year. Trace amounts of Jane's blood and skin were on it."

"The scalpel was found wrapped up in a small towel in cabinet under a sink in a bathroom off of your cabin bedroom. Trace blood was also found in the sink. This evidence prompted a judge here to sign a search warrant for your home. Since you had up until recently lived in the home with your wife it would not be unusual for the authorities to find traces of Jane's DNA or personal items belonging to her there. But they found no personal items, why is that?"

"I had it all boxed up and sent to her place a couple of weeks before."

"You didn't keep any pictures of her, any mementos of the life you had with her?"

"What does that matter?" Constance asked.

"Because a jury is going to find it odd," Dalton answered. "If Maura takes the stand, which is really out of the question at this point, and tells the jury she loved Jane, they are going to find that suspect if she didn't keep anything of Jane's."

"I have some stuff," was all Maura said.

"Well the authorities did find blood evidence in the basement of the house. It looked like someone tried to clean it up with bleach," Gary said. "The amount was significant which is why they theorize that Jane was killed there."

"My daughter didn't kill anyone," Constance asserted.

"I believe that as well, but believing and proving are different matters, which is where I come in. I have discovered a few things that may be difficult for you to hear Dr. Isles. I apologize to add to your grief. From everything I have discovered I genuinely believe you and your wife were very much in love and would still be today if it weren't for Miss Samantha Collins, the woman Jane allegedly had that affair with that caused you to end the marriage."

"It was hardly alleged," Constance said. "Jane admitted it."

"From your own daughter's statements, Jane never admitted to it exactly. She said she woke up in bed naked with Samantha but she couldn't remember what happened that night."

"What's the difference?"

"The difference is while Jane used poor judgment in not telling you immediately, I don't think she had sex with Miss Collins that night, nor did she have any long standing affair with her like Miss Collins alleged."

"I saw the emails," Maura said. "She had been emailing back and forth with Samantha for a year. Some of them were pretty explicit."

"They were also faked and I can prove it. Jane didn't have an affair, of that I am certain."

Maura tried to process this. Jane had an affair. It ended their marriage. Jane had denied the affair over and over to her, but by that time Maura refused to believe her or even listen to her. What is she was telling the truth?

"I don't … why are you so certain she didn't cheat on me?"

"Let me show you why," he said.


	3. Chapter 3

A/N Thanks everyone for the positive reviews

* * *

Stipling called a driver's license picture up on the screen. Maura immediately recognized her.

"Samantha Lynn Collins, age 35, of Boston," Stipling said. "She has a B.A. in business and computer science from Boston University and along with a MBA. She is very smart as you can see from her transcripts. She first met Jane when Jane was fresh out of the police academy. Jane was paired up with an experienced officer on her first week and that officer had arrested a Sara Collins, 18, and she was charged with possession of heroin. Sara called her older sister Samantha to bail her out."

"Jane helped navigate Samantha through the bail bondsman process. They started to date afterward and had a somewhat secret relationship for nearly three years before Samantha broke it off. Did Jane ever tell you why?"

"She um … she said Samantha had bigger dreams than marrying a cop."

"Interesting and maybe from Jane's standpoint that is how she viewed it. Anyway, this appears to be the only same-sex relationship Jane had prior to you. Now Samantha is a highly successful financial analyst. She weathered the economic downturn with more money than she started with. She also helped some very influential clients through it who were more than happy to pay her bonuses as well. Her current wealth is spread across worldwide investments and banks making her actual net worth unknown."

"While her professional life appears to be completely in order, the same can't be said for her personal life. I'll go more into that in a little bit. Now fast forward to the night Jane and Samantha see each other at the bar. You were away at a conference and Jane was here. She told you she ran into Samantha earlier in the week, correct?"

Maura remembered the conversation clearly. It was right before Maura was leaving to go to the medical examiner's conference in Florida. They were sitting on the back patio just after dusk, Jane drinking a beer and Maura a glass of wine. They had shared several peaceful nights like that and at the time she thought that was how it would always be. Then Jane mentioned Samantha. She of course knew who Samantha was. While she had never met her, nor seen a picture of her, when she and Jane were dating, Jane had told her about her first girlfriend.

"I saw Sam today," Jane said, as if it was a common occurrence. It took Maura a moment to register that Jane meant Samantha. "When I stopped to get coffee I was walking out when I heard someone call my name and there she was sitting at one of the tables."

"Did you talk to her?"

"Briefly. I needed to get back to the precinct. She's back in Boston for a few weeks to clear up some personal matters, something to do with her mom's estate I think. I didn't really get into it. She wanted to know if she and I could get together why she was in town to talk. Don't worry, even if she hadn't mentioned she heard I got married, I would have told her."

"I'm not worried," Maura smiled. "What did you tell her?"

"I told her I didn't know and I really needed to run. She handed me her business card in case I wanted to call and get together for dinner."

"Do you want to?"

"No. But I feel like I owe to her. I know that sounds stupid, but the last time I saw her I …I was just so angry."

Maura leaned over and put a comforting hand on her wife's arm. "It's your choice, but maybe you should go if nothing else to apologize."

"I don't know. I will think about it. Sam is … when she and I were going out our differences kept popping up it seemed but we always worked through it until the end. Then when she came back into my life it was … it was completely the wrong timing and I guess a part of me has always wanted to apologize for the things I said to her that night, but you know I don't like thinking about that time in my life on a normal basis and I sort of figured an apology was pointless. It was a long time ago and I am happy now with you and there is no reason to revisit the past."

"Maybe you shouldn't look at it was revisiting the past and instead look at it as letting someone who was once very important to you know that you didn't mean to hurt them."

"How do you always know the right things to say?"

"I'm a genius," she said matter-of-factly and Jane leaned over and kissed her.

"I knew she had run into Samantha and I knew she was going to meet her while I was away," Maura said. "I didn't think there was anything to worry about and I even called her that evening to say goodnight. She was at a hotel bar with Samantha when I called. She must have stepped away to talk. She said she was finishing her drink and would be leaving. She said she had apologized to Sam who accepted and appreciated it. She even said meeting with Samantha made her even more grateful that she had me in her life. The next day when I called her though she was acting strange, a little off and I didn't know why."

"How long was it before you received this picture?" Stipling asked displaying a photo on the screen of Jane and Samantha kissing. Maura only glanced at it before looking away.

"It was within the week of me returning."

"I imagine like any spouse you confronted Jane immediately?"

"She denied it. And then she told me that she couldn't remember what happened that night after talking to me on the phone. She remembered going back to the table, sitting and drinking and then … then she said woke up in Samantha's hotel room, in her bed. When I asked her if she had passed out there or if she was actually in bed with Samantha she admitted that Sam was there and they were both naked. She swore she didn't know what happened, but I … I asked her to leave our house that night."

"See, she clearly did something with this Samantha person," Constance said. "The photo, her admission that she was in bed with her, Jane never had any proof that she didn't carry on an affair."

"Actually, the photo is a fake. It was photo shopped." Stipling said indicating the screen. "I had an expert friend of mine take a look at it and he said while it's a good manipulation it wasn't without some flaws that made him see it was a fake. The photo of Jane kissing is the base photo, but who she is kissing was inserted. My friend even found the original photo used on a Facebook page."

The screen changed to a photo of Jane and Maura kissing.

"That's at the precinct bbq two years ago," Maura said.

"That is the thing with social media, people make everything public. Too anyone with PhotoShop experience it could have been done, although my friend tells me this was more than simple copy and paste job. Someone put effort into this. Now the emails. I am sure you are aware that each time you send and receive an email it records an IP address in it. Basically it's a tag to show where it came from. None of the emails from Jane's personal account that were sent to Samantha had an IP address that matched any of the ones Jane would have sent from."

"How do you know this?" Maura asked. "Samantha only showed me the print outs. I only saw them in electronic form when Jane denied sending them and called up her account to show me she didn't. But many of them were still there in her sent folder, although cleared from her inbox"

"Let me back up. The emails were sent from Jane's personal account, as you saw. That is indisputable. What isn't indisputable is if Jane was the one who actually wrote them and sent them. I am saying no and not just because the IP addresses don't match up. Look here at this email."

He called up one that appeared to be Jane sending Samantha a quick email to see about arranging to see her. It was signed Love Always, Jane.

"Notice anything odd about it?"

Maura looked at it. She read it several times. She had read all the print outs multiple times, although she never really knew why beyond maybe a bit of self-torture.

"I don't see anything."

"The date and time the email was sent," Stipling said, blowing up that part of the document to make it more visible.

Maura hadn't really paid much attention to the dates on the emails beyond wanting to know when they started. She studied the date now, knowing it must be significant or Stipling wouldn't have showed her. After several moments she knew.

"The Kelly Murphy case. Jane was on the stand for six hours that day," she said.

"Correct. There was no way she could have sent this at 2:14 p.m. because she was testifying. I checked the court logs, and there was no break anywhere near that time," Stipling said.

Maura was beginning to respect Stipling's thoroughness more and more.

"Still how did you get the emails in electronic form?" Maura asked.

"I have a contact who was able to acquire them for me," he said. "But regardless Samantha Collins with or without someone's help went to a lot of trouble to make it look like Jane was unfaithful to you."

"So she really never …"

"No. Tell me, when you called Jane that night that she was out with Samantha, you said she stepped away to talk. Do you know if she left the actual bar area?"

"I don't know for sure. When I first called the background noise sounded like a bar but she told me to hold on and when she got back on it didn't sound like it."

"I believe she did leave the bar. The waitress on duty that night remembers Jane being drunk to the point Samantha helped her from the bar, most likely all the way up to her room. But the waitress also thought it odd after I started questioning her about it because she doesn't recall Jane having more than two beers and she thought Jane didn't finish the second one. Once she left the room to talk to you it would have left Samantha plenty of time to put something in her drink."

"Drugged? She drugged Jane," Constance said. "Why? If what you are saying is true, why all of this?"

"That would be pure conjecture on my part," Stipling said. "As it is, I can prove the photo and emails are fake, but I can't prove beyond a shadow of a doubt Samantha did it. She is most likely yes, but proving it would be another matter. Just as there is no proof she drugged Jane. But having said that, it's my belief Dr. Isles that Samantha had an unhealthy obsession with your wife."

"Do you think Samantha killed her?" Maura asked.

Stipling sighed. "Forgive me for saying this, but you and Samantha on the surface of things are somewhat alike. You are both wealthy, although you came by it differently. You are both philanthropists who give money freely to charities. You are both highly educated and respected in your fields. You were both in love with Jane. There are two main differences when it comes to her murder however. You had motive, she doesn't. She has an alibi, you don't. I don't believe you killed your wife Dr. Isles. From everything I have been able to discover since being hired points to you two having a loving marriage until Samantha came along. But as of right now at least I can't prove that Samantha had anything to do with it. She wasn't even in Massachusetts when Jane disappeared."

"But if what you are saying, you can prove Jane didn't have an affair, which means Maura had no motive," Constance said.

"Yes, but she didn't know that information until now. The jury would still see it as a wife who was upset over her spouse's perceived adultery. It's also why I asked earlier if you had personal items that belonged to Jane. A jury isn't likely to see a woman who loved her wife, not given the contention between the two of you at the end. When Jane woke up in bed with Samantha, I imagine she got scared since she couldn't remember. She should have been honest with you so it's understandable that you believed she cheated, especially with the evidence Samantha provided."

"Except Jane asked me, begged me, to have faith in her and in our love. And I … I didn't. I threw it all away."

"Oh Maura, you had no way of knowing," Constance said squeezing her hand. "Even Jane thought she had done something with Samantha. You aren't at fault here. You couldn't have known."

"Your mother is right," Stipling said. "Giving in to despair now will not help matters."

"What is there to help?" Maura said. "All the evidence points to me. You are right, I had motive and I have no alibi. I didn't kill Jane, but a jury could very well believe that I did."

"You've known from the beginning that you were set up, you had to have," Stipling said. "But you haven't done anything to help yourself in the process so far either. The question is, are you ready now to fight?"

Maura looked at the screen which still showed the fake email. Samantha Collins had ruined her marriage. She didn't know why, but she was going to find out.

"I am," Maura said.

"Good," Stipling said. "Because what I have to show you next isn't going to be easy."


	4. Chapter 4

"I need to show you something," Stipling said. "Again with the internet this job gets easier and easier. You see why I can't prove Samantha had anything to do with Jane's death, she was clearly involved in this. I started to look into more of Samantha's personal life. It is one long string of failed relationships. These are the pictures of the ex-girlfriends that I have been able to trace."

The screen changed and a series of six pictures came up.

"Oh God," Constance said. "They all look like Jane."

Maura couldn't turn away from the pictures. The women were clearly not Jane, but they all resembled her in someway whether it be the hair or facial structure.

"This … this is an obsession," Maura said.

"My thought exactly," Stipling said. "These women all have diverse backgrounds, occupations, likes and dislikes. The only thing that connects them is that they all resemble each other. Here is a picture of her last girlfriend, the one in my opinion that most looks like Jane."

He brought another picture up and Maura had to agree that this woman of all of them did look the most like her.

"This is Penny. She is a waitress at a bar in New York. I went up there and interviewed her. When I told her I was there to investigate the death of woman who was connected to Samantha she was more than a little reluctant to speak. I left her my card and told her I would be in town for a few days. She called me up early the next morning and asks me what the name of the woman is, the woman whose death I am investigating. I tell her Jane Rizzoli. She gets silent and then agrees to meet with me."

"She knew something about Jane?" Maura asked.

"No. Had no idea who Jane was, not exactly at least. Penny is barely scraping by there in New York. She said the first time she met Samantha, Sam was immediately flirtatious with her. She thought Samantha was great looking and she figured flirting back would net her a good tip. Then Samantha came back a few times – always polite to her, always flirting until the day she asked Penny out. They started to date and Penny thought she was the luckiest woman in the world."

"Here was this attractive, well-off woman who seemed genuinely interested in her and treated her better than any other person she had been with. Then things started to change. Samantha became more controlling, always wanting to know where she was, and sometimes she would come into the bar just to watch Penny and make sure no one else was flirting with her. One night she got into it with another woman because this woman was apparently checking Penny out."

"Penny's boss told her she needed to get a handle on the situation or she would lose her job. She tells Samantha this and Sam suggests that she quit her job that Samantha would take care of any expenses, that they could move in together. Penny turned her down which led to a big fight. Samantha accused her of cheating on her and slapped her across the face."

"Penny said when Samantha did this, she also called her Jane. When she asked who Jane was Samantha left and she never heard from her again. The other women I talked to had similar stories of things starting out amazing with Samantha and then they would go downhill quickly. One of the women told me they had just finished having sex when Samantha looked at her and told her to get out, that they were done. When the woman asked her why, she said 'because you are not my Jane.'"

Maura started getting sick to her stomach thinking of how obsessed Samantha was with Jane – and Jane, nor she had known it. She had let this woman manipulate her into destroying her marriage.

"Samantha has to be involved in Jane's death," Constance said.

"I agree," Stipling said. "I am just unsure how. Like I said, she has an alibi. There are at least 20 people who will testify that she was on a video conference with them while she was in New York on the day Jane disappeared. I can't find any evidence that she left New York for any extended period of time during the week in question. That doesn't mean she didn't, but if she did she was very good at covering her tracks."

"She has money, she could have hired someone."

"Again, she could have, but it's a matter of proof. Don't underestimate this woman. She is very smart. And the idea that she could do anything violent would be a shock to just about anyone who hadn't dated her. From what I can tell she is very highly-regarded. She volunteers at homeless shelter on Saturday mornings where she hands out meals. She is a Red Cross volunteer and actually went to New Orleans after Katrina to help out. She is one of the organizers of the NYPD fallen heroes memorial 5K which provides scholarship money to the children of deceased cops."

"Um, is this all you have to show us because if so, I think I'd like to go home now," Maura said. She was feeling completely overwhelmed now and wanted nothing more than to go home and curl up in Red Sox t-shirt.

"There is more, but if you need to take a break, I understand," Stipling said. "This is a lot to take in."

"No, please continue."

"Ok," he said. "I do have something else to show you."

The screen changed again and Maura knew immediately what was being displayed – a copy of her divorce papers, specifically the last page where they had to sign it. This time she did look away. Knowing what she knew now, those papers were like a bullet to her heart.

"You can see here Jane's signature," Stipling said. "Once I realized the extent of Samantha's obsession with Jane I had a handwriting expert at Harvard look at this document. You see how curve in Jane's J is. Well he compared it to a sample of Jane's signature on a police report – an easy enough thing to obtain through a public records request."

He called up the report and from an eye view the signatures matched. He called up another paper, which must have been the experts notes showing the precise measurements of the letters, which matched. Maura got up and approached the screen.

She reached out to the letter J.

"This isn't how Jane signs her name?"

"It is and it isn't," Stipling said. "What you are looking at is a comparison to a police report Jane signed during her first year on the force, the time when she would have been dating Samantha."

He changed the screen again to another signature where the J and the other letters weren't as curvy and had more sharp edges to them.

"This is probably the signature that you are more used to seeing from Jane," Stipling said. "For the most part our signatures don't change over time as we are adults. We naturally sign things as we are used to. But in Jane's case the signature did change over time."

"The damage to her hands," Maura said. "From Hoyt. When he stabbed her with the scalpels through her hands. During rehab she had to retrain some of the muscles in her hands. It changed her handwriting, which means the divorce papers they were …"

"A forgery. Jane never signed them," Stipling said.

Stipling rushed to her side as Maura felt light-headed. He guided her to a chair and Constance came to her side with a glass of water. Maura took it and drank some, not because she was thirsty but because she had to do something, anything. Jane didn't sign the divorce papers. They were still married.

"We were still married."

"I know this all comes as a shock to you," Stipling said.

"No, you don't understand. We were still married. When I went to Maine, when my divorce lawyer called and said the papers were received and filed with the court, I thought ..."

"I do understand Dr. Isles."

Maura looked up him and saw the sympathy there in his eyes.

"When I get hired on to a case, and Mr. Dalton will attest to it, it's not just my job to find the holes in the prosecution's case. My job it also to see if there are holes in the defense that need to be addressed. And unfortunately for you Dr. Isles, your conduct in the aftermath of the divorce papers being served isn't going to do you any favors."

Maura just looked at him, and when she didn't say anything, Constance spoke up.

"What is he talking about?"

Maura looked down at the table. "When I was in Maine, I slept with someone."


	5. Chapter 5

Maura reviewed the page and then set it aside. She was sitting at home, her computer and various files scattered on the table. She had received another batch of paperwork that morning by courier from her attorney's office.

Before leaving the office the day before she had requested copies of everything –all the evidence that they had received through the discovery process and all the evidence Stipling had managed to collect so far.

Stipling was right, since the moment she learned Jane was dead she hadn't done anything. She had sat back in her depression, but that was over now. Now she had something to focus on – and while it wasn't like it was before when she helped the homicide division with a case, this case was personal to her.

She barely noticed when her mom laid a plate of food next to her for lunch.

"You have to eat Maura," she said after a few moments and Maura looked up to see her mother was sitting across from her. She looked at the plate of food, slid it over and began to eat while examining the next page.

"Maura honey, I've been thinking about this all night, and I am sure you have too, but is it possible that Jane is still alive?"

It was not the question she had expected her mother to ask. They had left the attorney's office after learning about the forgery on the divorce papers and while she had said it out loud – that she had slept with someone, she hadn't gone into details. She figured her mother would ask her about that and she wasn't sure in light of what she now knew if that was a conversation she was up to having.

"As much as I dislike Dr. Pike, his consultation with the M.E. in Maine was not incorrect. The amount of blood. She couldn't have survived that kind of blood loss."

"I was hoping that maybe it was wrong."

"It wasn't. I may have failed at being a wife, but I still know how to read evidence and the evidence points to her being dead."

"I know I am not a cop or a scientist, but I hope you know I will help with this in anyway I can."

Maura smiled. It felt good to have her mother here with her, watching over her. She wondered if her relationship with her mother would be this good if it hadn't been for Jane. It was Jane who had pointed out to Constance that her relationship with her daughter was lacking. Jane always seemed to be protecting her.

"I am glad you are here," Maura said to her.

"I am not going anywhere," she said reaching across and gripping Maura's hand. "Now what can I do to help prove you didn't do this?"

"This isn't about proving my innocence,"

"What do you mean? Of course it is."

"Yes, I will work to prove I didn't do this, but that isn't why I asked for all of this. I have to find Jane."

"But you just said there was no way she could have survived the blood loss."

"She couldn't have, but her body also hasn't been recovered yet. Samantha was obsessed with Jane, even more so than Hoyt ever was. In life she tried to keep a connection to Jane through the women she dated. I suspect her charity work with the NYPD in her mind also connected her to Jane. Even if she didn't kill Jane, Stipling is right, she had some part in it, which means she is our best hope for finding Jane's body. Jane deserves to be put to rest properly."

She hadn't gotten to go to Jane's funeral naturally and while she swore she wasn't even going to turn on the TV that day, she couldn't help but watch the news that evening. It was as if every cop in Boston was there in their dress uniforms. Although the casket was empty, Frankie, Tommy, Jane's father, Cavanaugh, Korsak and Frost were the pallbearers.

Maura couldn't even watch the whole segment on it, and for two days she didn't leave the bed.

Now she was hoping against hope that there would be something in the evidence that gave her an idea of where her body might be. The coroner's report, prepared by Dr. Pike, was shorter than most since there was no body. She was thankful for that because she was unsure she could read a full report on Jane.

She had spent a lot of the morning going over Stipling's report and making notes – trying to come up with some sort of profile of Samantha. She knew at some point at least Jane had loved her. Jane had admitted that when she was going out with Samantha she could see it lasting forever, which was why when Samantha broke it off because she wanted to pursue her career in New York it had left Jane heartbroken.

And if that had been the last of their time together, Maura couldn't help but wonder if Jane would still be alive now. Looking back through the lense of time that was no longer clouded by her anger and belief in Jane's unfaithfulness, she knew Jane went to meet Samantha that night for one reason – absolution.

Jane had felt guilt over how she had left things with Samantha. It had been a tough story for Jane to tell. They had recently gotten engaged and were out walking in Jane's neighborhood at the time when Maura had asked her if she had ever thought they would end together. Jane admitted she wasn't sure because she was sure Maura was out of her league, and then she made some comment about women she had dated being out of her league. Somehow this led to them talking about Samantha.

_"When Sam first moved to New York, she invited me up a couple of months later. I was stupid and naïve, thinking maybe she had got up there decided it wasn't for her and wanted to come home but wanted to make sure I wanted her back," Jane said. "And at the time, yeah, I wanted her back. But that isn't why she asked me to come. She wanted me up there so she could try and convince me to come to New York permanently. I mean can you imagine me in New York?"_

_"No," Maura said as they walked hand-in-hand. "I picture a lot of fights involving you over the Red Sox."_

_"Exactly. But Samantha didn't see it that way. I used to love that about Samantha – that she saw the world as she thought it should be and she tried to make it that way. If she saw an injustice, she wanted to see it fixed. Anyway, I get up there and I spend the week with her and she's trying and trying to get me to see that she and I could have a life there in New York. But I don't see it, and I realize then that she and I are on different paths in life and while I loved her, I was kind of ok with us discovering our own separate paths. I heard from here a couple of times after that, but not much. "_

_"You said something before that you were the one who hurt her, what happened?"_

_Jane stopped and looked down at their joined hands. "Hoyt happened."_

_They started walking again. "I had just been released from the hospital and was at home, arguing with Ma. She wanted me to stay with her or let her stay with me and I wasn't going to let that happen. There was a knock at the door and I had Ma answer it, mostly because if it was a reporter I wanted her to send them away, but the truth was my hands were so messed up at that point I couldn't have opened my own door which was why Ma was being so insistent. She opens the door and there was Samantha."_

_"She had heard what had happened and came from New York. I was stunned to see her there and so was Ma. I am not sure my mother ever really accepted Sam. I don't think she had anything against her really, just that awkwardness of her being my first girlfriend. While Sam and I dated, we weren't really open about it and that was on me. I mean the people who were really important in my life knew and people around the precinct either knew or suspected, but I wasn't ready to be that open about it. Sam understood because she was like that – understanding."_

_"She sounds like a good person."  
"She was, she is, which is why she didn't deserve what I did to her."_

_They reached Jane's place and went inside, settling down on the couch, still touching each other. Maura had found that simply being in contact with Jane was comforting to her._

_"I managed to get Ma to leave, only because Sam reassured her that she would stay and take care of anything I needed. I found I was super nervous at first having her there. But she didn't ask me what happened, pressure me to talk about it or anything like that. She merely asked if there was anything I needed. I said a beer and she went to my fridge opened one for me and for her and there we were."_

_"She stayed with me there for the next few weeks and I guess we sort of got back together. She would do her work from there – spending hours on the phone and computer. She would drive me to my rehab appointments for my hands and when I had to go see the department shrink. She was there when I would wake at night …"_

_"In a way though she was worse than Ma. She just wouldn't give me any space, and one night I just blew up at her. We were talking, arguing, and she mentioned again how it would be better if we went to New York because her job was there. I told her mine wasn't and she got upset at the idea of me going back to work at all. She started saying all this stuff about me not working at all and how she would take care of me, and I told her that my work was who I was and it didn't matter if we were in New York, Florida, Kansas or Washington that being a cop was who I was. She then made the mistake of trying to take my hands in hers and I lost it"_

_"I yelled at her, told her I wasn't some invalid that she needed to take care of, and that it bothered me that … it bothered me that she didn't seem to care what happened to me; she only seemed to care about these," she said lifting up her hands. "It's like she had finally found a hobby or something. I don't know. I kicked her out that night, made her leave – said things about our past relationship and I was mean. I wanted her to leave so I said everything I could think of to say to get her to leave. I haven't spoken to her since."_

_"Looking back, I know it wasn't so much Sam, it was where I was in my life at that point. I should never have let her stay from the beginning because the way I was then, I was toxic to anyone. I was just so … angry."_

_"Anger is understandable after what you went through. I am sure Samantha understood that as well."_

After thinking about it some more, Maura knew it wasn't just Jane's attitude at the time. It was Samantha as well. Jane pushing her out of her life, could have served as the catalyst for Samantha's obsession. She quickly went back to Stipling's report. She began to read what he knew of Sam's relationships – looking at the dates that he estimated encompassed each one. If he was right, Samantha was dating women who liked Jane before Jane's encounter with Hoyt.

As much as she hated conjecture without evidence, she began to wonder if Jane's actions is what made Samantha do what she had done now, and if that was enough for Samantha to work with someone to kill her.

She needed to talk to someone – someone who actually knew Samantha.

She thought back to what Jane had said. Angela had never really accepted her. What if Angela's reasons had less to do with it being Jane's first girlfriend and more about Samantha? To find out, she would need to speak with Angela. She would need to speak to someone who was still grieving over the loss of her daughter and believed that Maura had done it.


	6. Chapter 6

Maura called the only Rizzoli she felt she could call to facilitate a meeting between her and Angela. She called Tommy.

She hadn't spoken to the Rizzolis since finding out that Jane was dead, and they hadn't spoken to her. The truth was she missed being part of the Rizzoli clan but even before this she hadn't spoken much with any of them because of the divorce. They had naturally sided with Jane, but none of them had been mean to her.

Frankie was probably the one who resented her the most because they still had to work together and be around each other. He kept things very cold and professional. She could tell there were times he wanted to say something to her but didn't.

She was nervous going to see Angela for more than just the obvious reasons. When Jane had moved in with her, Angela had moved out into Jane's former apartment. And while the place looked nothing like the way Jane had it, Maura had spent so much time there with Jane. It would be hard for her to be there knowing Jane was dead.

Her mother insisted on coming with her and she was grateful to have the company. They knocked on the door and Tommy answered it, letting them in. Maura took a breath, stepped in and immediately stopped as she saw Angela standing by the couch. She suddenly felt like this was a very bad idea.

Her grief had stolen that fire that was always in Angela's eyes. She seemed a little thinner. She seemed more serious. She held a crumpled up tissue in her hand, her eyes still read from crying. Maybe it was too soon for this. Despite the months that had passed, maybe it was still too soon for both of them. Tommy moved around to stand by his mother, putting hand on her arm.

She felt Constance lightly touch her back.

"Come in. Sit down," Tommy said.

They took seats on chairs and Tommy and Angela sat on the couch.

"I didn't kill her," Maura said looking Angela straight in the eyes.

"I know."

"You know?" Maura said in disbelief. She had come prepared to defend herself, to be yelled at, to be blamed. She had been willing to go through that if it meant getting answers.

"Yes I know. You could no more kill my baby girl than she could have cheated on you."

And there is was.

"Jane didn't cheat on me, I know that now."

"If you had believed her when she said she didn't maybe …" Angela turned away and wiped away more tears. "I'm sorry. I told myself I wasn't going to do this; I wasn't going to blame you. You weren't the one who killed my baby girl."

"But it feels like I did," Maura said. "You're right; maybe if I had listened to Jane, believed her, instead of giving into my own hurt then this could have been avoided. I don't know. All I know is someone took her from us, all of us, and I want to know who."

"Why has taken you this long to contact us then?" Tommy asked.

Maura looked down and then up at him. "I didn't think you would want to hear from me. I thought … I thought you believed I killed her."

"Our attorney also advised her against it," Constance added.

"Yeah, he pretty much sent the message to us and the precinct that you were off limits," Tommy said. "And the DA told us it would hurt the case if any of us spoke to you."

"Angela," Maura said. "I asked Tommy to set this up because I was hoping you could lend some insight into Samantha."

"She has an alibi," Angela said. "The police already went down that route."

"I know she has an alibi, but she is the reason I thought Jane cheated on me, and the private investigator who works for the law firm representing me also discovered some disturbing things about her."

"What do you mean disturbing things?"

Maura pulled out her ipad and proceeded to give Angela and Tommy the condensed version of what Stipling had found out. When she got to the pictures of Samantha's former girlfriends, she worried that it might be too much for Angela, but instead Angela turned to Tommy, "did you know about this?"

Maura looked at him in surprise.

"Not about all the girlfriends, no," he said and he looked at Maura. "Cavanaugh won't let Frankie work Jane's case directly so in his free time, he's been looking into some stuff. I help when I can."

"Have you found out anything that our investigator hasn't?" Constance asked.

Tommy gave Maura a look that she couldn't interpret.

"Frankie went to see Sara, Samantha's sister. She's serving another three years on a trafficking in heroin charge. She recognized Frankie's name, well his last name and agreed to see him. She had heard about Jane's death but had very little sympathy over it. It appears she has certain thoughts and feelings about same-sex relationships. Anyway, she doesn't have any love loss with her sister either."

"Frankie had checked the logs ahead of time and Samantha had gone from seeing Sara practically never to five visits in a short amount of time. Sara has a lot of resentment for her sister; some of it due to their mom who practically disowned Sara but thought Samantha could do no wrong."

"Frankie asked her why Sam was coming to see her more often and Sara said she didn't know. Frankie said it was hard to keep a conversation going with her because she would go off on tangents on various ways she thought Samantha had screwed her over. She did say that Sam asked her a bunch of questions about her drug dealing. She thought maybe her sister was a narc working with the cops to pin something on her so she didn't say much to her about it. But Samantha kept coming and since she was putting money in Sara's commissary fund Sara started to talk more about it."

"Why would she be asking questions like that?" Constance asked.

"Sara didn't know. When she started to talk to Samantha about it she thought Sam was asking because a lot of people in high-stress, powerful jobs need something to relax them, or keep them going. But that didn't seem to be what Samantha was after. She never asked real specific questions of Sara, more generalities, but Sara ended up telling her where a dealer was who could anything for her."

"Frankie and Frost tracked him down, put some pressure on him. They showed him a picture of Samantha but guy said he had never seen her. But he said another person, a man came to see him said Sara sent him and this guy was looking for the kind of drugs this dealer didn't deal in, but for some money he directed the guy to someone who would. Turns out the guy was looking for different types of sedatives – some of them date rape drugs. This was a few weeks before Samantha met up with Jane."

"We already suspected Samantha drugged her," Maura said. It was still hard for her to think about. If she had believed Jane …

"Looks that way. Jane was … she was tore up over what happened with you and she wasn't thinking like Jane would have. But near the end she started thinking like a cop. She told Frankie she thought Samantha drugged her, but she didn't have proof and Samantha was back in New York. It's not like she wasn't trying to figure it out."

"She would have figured it out," Angela said. "My baby girl was smart like that. She wasn't educated like with college, but she was smart. She just needed more time, but all she could think about was trying to save her marriage."

Maura had to force the tears from falling, but Angela wasn't making any attempt as she again wiped tears away from her cheeks.

"Why Maura?" Angela asked. "Why did you railroad that divorce through as quickly as you did?"

Maura didn't have an answer for her and she turned away.

"I'm sorry," Angela said. "I didn't … it was between you and my baby girl."

Maura noticed Angela had not said Jane once, always "my baby girl."

"I know you have no reason to believe it, but I loved Jane. I still love her. Even … even with the divorce my feelings for her hadn't changed. I messed up, and I know there is no way for you to forgive me because I can't forgive myself."

"You came here to find out about Samantha," Angela said. "What can I tell you?"

"I am not really sure. I am trying to figure out who she is, what motivates her."

"Sam was always polite around me. Polite in the kind of way that you get the feeling the person it being polite out of necessity not because they like you. I don't think disliked me or anyone in the family, but she never really connected with us. When they broke up, it was one of the only times I saw my baby girl cry as an adult. Then after Hoyt there she was suddenly again. I tried to help during that time but every offer I made Sam would tell me she had already taken care of it or would. There were a couple times she flat out told me that it wasn't a good time for visiting. That was really the only time I was bothered by her."

"She never gave you the feeling that she was obsessed with Jane?"

"No. I'm afraid not. They loved each other. After they broke up and Samantha moved to New York, it wasn't like Sam was trying to contact her all the time. To my knowledge they didn't have much contact until Hoyt happened and after that none until they met up for dinner while you were away. If she was obsessed wouldn't there have been more signs of it?"

"Not necessarily. For instance stalking is a form of obsessive behavior but in many cases the stalker chooses to do it covertly. Other stalkers are more open about it and bombard the person with contact. Samantha didn't do anything openly apparently with the exception of date woman who all had similar traits to Jane which is a sign in itself."

"In some of these cases these women had nothing in common with Samantha with which to build a relationship on, but their looks were enough for Samantha to pursue each of them. She was never the pursued from what we can tell. Samantha could merely have been transferring her obsession with Jane to these women until she finally returned to the original source. Obsessive love can be a sign or another bigger mental health problem."

"Jane wasn't really open about her relationship with Samantha," Tommy said. "They used to tell people they were just roommates, but she was honest with us about it. I don't think that bothered Sam."

"It may not have. Obsessive love isn't about flaunting it or showing it off. As long as she had the object of her obsession close it probably didn't matter to her how the world perceived it."

"You think that by focusing on Samantha you can find who really killed her?" Angela asked.

"I hope so, but finding out who killed her is secondary to finding her … her remains. She didn't show it, but her religion meant a lot to her and I want her to be put to rest properly. I understand that going through that again may be too painful for you and your family, but she deserves better than an empty box."

Angela got up, which startled Maura, but when the older woman bent down and embraced her, Maura eagerly returned it. "You'll always be family," Angela said.

They left shortly afterward, the emotions overwhelming Angela. Tommy walked them out to the car, but he pulled Maura aside before she could get in.

"Look, um … I probably shouldn't be telling you this, but I know you'll probably find out in discovery since they have to turn over their evidence and witness lists. But they have a witness that puts you at Jane's place the night before they believe she disappeared. And they found your fingerprints in her place along with some hairs. They asked Ma, me and Frankie if we had ever known you to be there, and we had to answer truthfully."

"It's ok. I wouldn't expect you to lie. I was only ever over there that one time. That Monday night."

"You know how bad that looks right?"

"I'm aware."

"What were you doing over there?"

Maura thought about that night and the subsequent morning when she had slipped out of Jane's bed while she still slept. She remembered stopping at the doorway of the bedroom, but she didn't look back to see her one more time. At that point she couldn't. If she had known it would be the last time she saw Jane alive she would have looked.

She hadn't told Tommy and Angela about the divorce papers being forged. She didn't know why she hadn't, especially when Angela asked her why she railroaded the divorce through. The truth was she had used her money to expedite the process. Massachusetts law when it came to divorce wasn't as simple as other states. State law required at least one court hearing and Maura made sure that hearing took place in front of a judge who was known to have a particular dislike for spouses who cheat. Jane never stood a chance.

"I was there because Jane said she wouldn't sign the divorce papers unless I came over."

Maura got into the car as there was nothing else to say. She shouldn't be surprised if someone had seen her that night. She wouldn't be surprised if someone had heard them arguing.

…

_Even as she parked her car outside of Jane's apartment complex she knew this was a bad idea. Jane had been served with the divorce papers and had called Maura at first demanding she come over and talk to her and then begging. She could tell Jane had been drinking. _

_She told Jane no. Her plan had been to leave that night and get to her cabin in Maine. She didn't want to be in Boston while her divorce was finalized. Jane wouldn't let it go though and told Maura she would refuse to sign if Maura didn't come over. Maura still almost said knowing in the end Jane had to sign, but here she was sitting outside in her car._

_The apartment complex was not as nice as the one Jane used to live in. She wondered why Jane chose this place. She could afford better on her salary. As much as her mind was telling her to walk away, she knew she had to end this so she got out of the car. Walking up to the third floor apartment Maura was again struck by what poor accommodations Jane had chosen to live in. _

_She got up to apartment 31 and knocked on the door. Jane opened it immediately and Maura again realized this was a bad idea. Throughout their divorce process she had tried to minimize contact with Jane. She didn't work on cases Jane was involved in; there were times as chief ME she would work out of other offices and often assigned Dr. Pike to Jane's cases. Jane had tried on several occasions to get her alone like this to talk and Maura had successfully avoided such contact until now._

_Jane held the door for her to come in and Maura saw that Jane was holding a half-empty beer bottle in her hand. She stepped in and stopped while Jane closed the door. The apartment was much smaller than Jane's old one. It was a small one-bedroom with what was more like a kitchenette than full kitchen. It was in various states of disarray. _

_"I am here, what do you want?" Maura said trying to remain in a non-emotional state._

_"What do I want? I want my wife not to look at me like I'm some sort of criminal. I want you to just stop for a minute, stop pushing me away and sit and talk this through with me. No more lawyers or judges, no more talking through intermediaries. Maura that isn't us. You and me together, working together, being there for each other that is how we get through things, that is who we are."_

_"There is no us anymore. There hasn't been an us since you slept with Samantha."_

_"I didn't sleep with her," Jane said. "I don't care what she said. I wouldn't have done that to you. You have to know that."_

_"Do I? What are you doing right now? You're drinking. Are you going to get drunk and wake up with some other woman tomorrow?"_

_"You know that isn't true," Jane said putting the beer down. _

_"Stop telling me what I know and don't know. If you didn't sleep with her why did you lie? Why didn't you come to me immediately and tell me that you woke up in bed with her? Why did you deny it when I first confronted you?"_

_Jane moved around her, and Maura saw her rubbing at one of the scars on her hands – a nervous habit she had whenever she was getting emotional._

_"I was scared," Jane said. "I was scared. I still don't know what happened that night, but I swear to you I did not have sex with her. I shouldn't have lied about it. I'm sorry."_

_"You lied to me yet you want me to believe the other things aren't lies. What about the emails?"_

_"I didn't send those. I don't know how they got there in my email account. I am trying to find out. I need more time to figure this all out."_

_"That is where we differ. I don't need more time. I am done."_

_"No. Don't say that. Please Maur don't say that. I can figure this out with more time. Sam did this. She's fed you a much of lies about me, I don't know why – revenge maybe because of how I treated her. But I've found out some stuff about her. Carl, the forensic accountant we sometimes use, he's been looking into some of Sam's financials for me. I will dissect every aspect of her life if I have to in order to figure out why she is doing this and get her to admit the truth."_

_"You don't get it, do you? This isn't about Samantha. Not really. It's about you and me or what used to be you and me. You promised me. When you asked me to marry you, you promised me that we would always be together and you would always protect me from being hurt. But you didn't. You are the cause of this hurt that's been welling up inside me. I understand now what heartache really is. It's betrayal Jane. It's being betrayed by the one person you thought would always be there for you."_

_"I'm sorry. Please, Maura. Just give me a chance – a second chance. I will make that heartache go away. I will make you see that I am not this person you have in your mind that I am. I love you. I will say it a thousand times over if I have to. I love you. I will never love another. It's always been you. Please, just don't do this. If you insist on getting this divorce there is no turning back from that. Please."_

_Maura turned away from her. She didn't want Jane to beg her. She didn't want it because she was afraid her resolve would not be strong enough to resist it. She turned back to Jane who was suddenly right in front of her. "Please Maura," she said in an almost whisper before bending down and kissing her._

_The kiss was forceful as if she wanted to pour all the emotions she was feeling into it, and Maura couldn't help but kiss back. It had been so long since she had felt those lips against her, and she found she was hungry for it. She felt Jane wrap her arms around her and she allowed herself to be pulled in closer. The kissing was becoming more passionate, and Jane began to move her backward until she hit the wall. Jane began to kiss her neck and Maura found she was already turned on as she began to unbutton Jane's shirt. _

_Once unbuttoned she pulled the shirt back off of Jane's shoulders, which momentarily broke off the kissing. Jane reached back and unhooked her bra giving Maura unfettered access to her breasts, which Maura took advantage of by grabbing both as Jane leaned in and continued to kiss along her neck. _

_Jane grabbed Maura's ass pressing their lower bodies closer to each other. "Maura," she breathed out between kisses. There was never a time that she hadn't found Jane's voice to be sexy. "I love you Maur."_

_Maura wanted to say it back but didn't. Instead she brought their lips back to together to keep Jane from speaking. Jane broke it off, turned Maura around so she was facing the wall and Jane began to pull off Maura's clothes until she was completely naked. Jane kissed her neck and along her shoulder from behind, reaching around slipping two fingers into her folds and applying pressure on her clit._

_Jane continued to move her fingers, gathering up her wetness and Maura pushed her ass back into Jane's groin area. One of Jane's hands snaked up and grabbed her breast, pulling at her nipple. _

_Maura, after enjoying minutes of this attention, turned and kissed Jane, who this time when she had her hands on Maura's ass pulled her up and Maura wrapped her legs around her. She had forgotten Jane was so strong until Jane carried her to her bedroom. She placed her gently on the bed and Jane stepped back, unbuttoning her own pants and stripping. Maura backed up on the bed as Jane got on it, advancing on Maura and kissing her again, while Maura again fondled Jane's breasts. Jane decided to get in on the action as she moved down Maura's body and sucked on one of Maura's nipples and then the other.  
Maura at this point was so revved up that all the nerve endings in her body were exploding. Jane went down further, finally reaching her pussy. She began licking up and down and Maura was moaning in pleasure. Jane pushed two fingers into her – setting a fast rhythm to start off. Jane's long fingers thrust into her and Maura held onto Jane's head knowing she was so close._

_"Jane!" she cried out as the orgasm hit her._

_They spent the next hours having sex until they were both exhausted. She felt Jane wrap an arm around her. "I love you," Jane said kissing her bare shoulder._

_"I love you too," she whispered back before falling asleep._

_She woke before Jane did and she moved Jane's arm off of her. She got out of bed and went to the door, pausing, and thinking about the night before. She left the room without looking back and dressed quickly. She had noticed the night before that the divorce papers were sitting on the coffee table. She pulled out a piece of paper from a small notebook she kept in her purse and wrote a quick note. She left it lying there on top of the papers._

_It said, "It's over. Sign the papers."_


	7. Chapter 7

NOTE: I do not own Rizzoli & isles or its characters (just a reminder)

Thanks to everyone who has been leaving such nice reviews. I really appreciate them.

* * *

Each day that passed brought Maura closer to her trial date, but no closer to finding out what had happened to Jane. After meeting with Angela and Tommy, she had felt somewhat better because they didn't believe she did it. Then a couple of weeks later in the next batch of discovery items was a new name being subpoenaed for the trial – Mark Clayton.

She had called Tommy shortly afterward. She had to know if they knew and they did – the Rizzolis now knew that the prosecuting attorney planned to bring the man whom she had slept with to testify at her trial. Her attorney was planning on objecting to his testimony but had warned her that it was highly unlikely the judge would allow the objection. Mark Clayton not only spoke to her character, the prosecuting attorney could argue but could also provide crucial timeline evidence.

It made her sick just thinking about it.

The whole thing almost sent her into another depression but she had vowed she was going to fight this, and she would.

Samantha had also received a subpoena and if nothing else Maura wanted to face that woman in court. She wanted to be the one to question her, although she knew that would not be allowed. She had wanted to confront her since finding out the truth but everyone had warned her against it. Not to mentions she wasn't allowed to travel out of state due to the conditions of her being out on bond.

She had finally told her mother that it was ok, if she had to leave and get back to her own life. Constance was reluctant but ended up leaving, although she called every day and planned on being back during breaks – even small ones. She told her that during the trial she would be there the entire time.

Now she was alone in the house. Alone in the home where she was supposed be with Jane for years to come. Before all of this they had broached the subject of having a child. They discussed in vitro as well as adoption as possibilities.

It seemed unfathomable that it had all come crashing down.

She wasn't a detective but she knew she had to act like one. She had converted a spare bedroom into her own office for this case. She had dry erase boards up with copies of documents and evidence hung up and notes scrawled under and around them. How many times had she seen Jane study evidence like this? She stood there now looking through things she felt like she had examined a hundred times, but since she was no closer to the truth she knew she must be missing something.

Her phone rang, startling her; she was so lost in thought. It was Stipling. She had asked him to keep on investigating Samantha and she was paying him directly. He had told her he couldn't work on it anything more than a cursory way because he had other investigations he was getting paid for by the attorneys. Still he gave her an update each Wednesday, which hadn't amounted to much. Samantha had been traveling for weeks now on the west coast. She had been sent there by her boss to make some connections out there and look into the East Asian market more. She had been in New York for awhile.

"Hello Gary," she said.

"Hello Maura. I have some news. Samantha has decided to stay on the west coast. She isn't returning to New York. She turned her notice to her boss, although she plans on freelancing for them."

"When did this happen?"

"I just confirmed it today, but she resigned a few days ago."

"She is staying in California then?"

"That's the strange thing. I don't think she is. To be honest I am not sure where she is at. Her credit card was used to book a hotel in California for a week, and then used again for a flight to Japan and back, then another hotel booking for two weeks. But here is the thing, I haven't confirmed she ever actually took that trip or stayed in the hotel. My connections on the West Coast aren't as good as they are here. There was one other charge that stood out; it was a charge that coincided with the layover of the flight back from Japan in Seattle, Washington. I only found it to be odd because when Samantha first flew out there, she did so on her firm's private jet and before going to California it stopped in Seattle first. It may mean absolutely nothing but I'm trying."

"I know you are and you have no idea how much I appreciate your help with this."

"I just wish I had more to give you."

They said their goodbyes and Maura sat down. She had not been concerned about Samantha being on the West Coast because her job did require travel. But now that she wasn't coming back it worried Maura. Surely Samantha wouldn't ignore the subpoena and not show up for court. Why the sudden move? Samantha had lived in either Boston or New York her whole life.

She was sure Samantha knew where Jane's remains were. She hadn't said out loud why she thought that. She had two theories. Number one, that Samantha had indeed killed Jane somehow but doing so wouldn't have ended her obsession. She would want someway to visit Jane's body. Her second theory was that she didn't kill Jane, someone else did, but Samantha helped them by making Jane vulnerable. Tommy was right, Jane hadn't been thinking like a detective. She was devastated over the divorce which meant she could have let her guard down easily enough. Even under this theory Samantha would want something a souvenir of Jane's body to keep.

Either theory wasn't something that the Rizzolis needed to hear. They didn't need to know that Samantha may have a piece of Jane. Some knowledge was best not to be shared.

Maura was convinced that Samantha's obsession went well beyond even documented "norms" of such case studies. She had spent time reading up on the most up-to-date research into these behavior patterns.

What she couldn't understand still was why Samantha broke up with Jane in the first place. She had Jane, they were in love from what everyone had said, so why would she break up with the object of her obsession?

She finally gave up for the day an hour or so later, knowing she wasn't going to get any insight into Samantha's motives.

She went to bed that night and found her sleep uneasy, which was not strange for how her life had been but it was like she couldn't get her mind to shut off. She managed to sleep for an hour or so before waking up again around 4:05 a.m. She got up deciding to get some water to drink. She shuffled out to the kitchen grabbed a bottle of water and walked back toward her room. She stopped at the doorway of her office. The door was open. Normally she closed but she hadn't that night. She leaned against the doorframe looking at the boards even though it was dark.

"Seattle, Washington," she said. Ever since Stipling had mentioned it, it was like something was nudging at her from inside her skull but she didn't know what.

…

Maura got up late the next day as she tried to catch up on her sleep. She dressed, ate breakfast and went back to review the evidence. She would do this every day until she either went crazy, was convicted of a murder she didn't commit or someone forced her to stop. She owed it to Jane to keep trying.

She went first to a couple of files – ones she thought about that morning. After thinking about her last night with Jane she had remembered her mentioning Carl, the forensic accountant they used on cases. Carl was not one of Maura or Jane's favorite people. He was an ass, whom Maura was sure had some sort of sex fetish. She hated the way he looked at Jane and her. He had not so subtly suggested a threesome to them once. Maura had to keep Jane from decking him. They were in the middle of a case at the time and unfortunately he was needed.

After remembering, Maura called him up and made an appointment to meet him – of course he suggested this take place at some hotel bar. She went, feeling like she had no choice.

_"You are looking as beautiful as always Maura," he said when she sat down._

_"Thank you," she replied. "Did you bring what I asked for?"_

_"I did," he said indicating the files that were under his other hand. "But there is no reason to just straight to business."_

_"I am only here for business," Maura replied._

_"At least have a drink,"_

_"Fine," she said and he motioned the waiter over and she ordered a wine. "Now I need to know what Jane came to you about as it concerns Samantha Collins."_

_"That is privileged client information."_

_"How so?"_

_"Did you think I was going to spend hours of my life delving through this woman's financials for free? The woman is a millionaire in case you were unaware of her resources. That kind of work takes time and I don't do pro bono."_

_"Jane was paying you?"_

_"Yes."_

_Maura knew Carl wouldn't have given Jane a discount on the price either. This could explain why she was living in such an apartment. She was using her money to investigate Samantha. _

_"Did you turn over your findings to her?"_

_"Never got the chance before she well …" he said._

_"Did you turn your findings over the police?"_

_"No one has asked for them beside you. Jane wanted all of this done on the down low. I can only guess that some of the information she provided me in terms of banks Miss Collins was using she got from not-strictly legal means. She was determined to find something on her former lover to nail her with and not the good kind of nailing."_

_The waiter returned with her drink and she took a sip._

_"I want those files and I want you to tell me if you found anything unusual in them."_

_"Say I was inclined to give up such information, what is it worth to you?"_

_"I will pay you double what Jane paid you. That should be more than fair compensation for work you've already done."_

_"What makes you think Jane was paying me purely in money? Clearly she didn't mind bending the wedding vows."_

_It took every ounce of her strength not to get up and punch him._

_"You should be careful about what you say about my wife," Maura said. "Maybe you don't fully appreciate the situation here. I am charged with murder. You are out with someone who is accused of killing a Boston Police Detective. We are in a rather public place. Do you think the city, which often employs you, or your own firm would find me as an acceptable dinner companion for you, much less anything else if it got around. Perhaps you should have chosen the location of this meeting a little better. Am I making myself clear?"_

_Carl got a shade whiter and he sat back in his chair looking around the room. "I was just joking; I didn't mean anything by it. And I meant no disrespect to Jane. I liked her. You are right double what she paid is fair."_

_He slid the files over to her. _

_"The first file is a breakdown of all the known assets I could find that are associated with her, a financial history, stocks, etc. The second is my report," he said. "Now um I have a meeting in a little bit, so … um I will send you the bill for the files."_

_"You do that," she said standing up. "I am sure you can afford to take care of the check here. And Carl, if I have any questions about what is in these, you better answer my call."_

_She took the files and left._

She held those files now. She had gone through them as soon as she had gotten home that day but nothing about them seemed to stand out to her. All her business seemed to be perfectly legitimate. Carl too hadn't found out any thing that raised a red flag. He noted only a couple of things in his report that he found odd and those had to do with real estate investments.

He noted that Samantha never dabbled in real estate until four years ago and when she did, she made several buys. He noted she bought three foreclosed properties in Florida, two of which she spent some money in renovations and flipped them in the last year as the housing market rebounded. She made a profit on each. The third one she had renovated and deeded it over to a non-profit women's shelter, another example of her charitable works.

She had an eye for property that she could turn around for profit. But Carl had noted a few properties that she had taken a loss on or still owned – one was in Boston, which she no longer owned because she took a loss on it and five were in Seattle – all of which she still owned.

Two connections now to Seattle. Did that mean that was where Samantha was planning on staying? And if so, why Seattle?

Even as she came across the information about the real estate holdings she knew that was not what had been bothering her mind. She walked out, grabbing a jacket as the weather was getting colder and sat out on the back deck.

This was one of the places in the house that she most felt Jane's presence. They had made a rule early in their marriage that they wouldn't discuss work in bedroom and they would try their best never to go to bed if they were having a disagreement. Most of their talks took place either inside on the couch if it was a simple argument that would be resolved quickly and usually the kissing would start there before ending in the bedroom. But if it was more serious or if they were both stressed from a case they came out here.

They had spent countless nights out there over the course of their dating, engagement and marriage. Before all of this, there had never been a time she hadn't looked at Jane and thought here is someone I will spend the rest of my life with. Even when they were just friends, she knew Jane would always be there for her. That was why she had felt her supposed betrayal so deeply. Jane was the one person she knew she could count on. Jane had never made her feel like she was unwanted, a cast off, a freak. But once the idea was in her head that Jane had sex with Samantha she couldn't get it out. No matter how hard she tried. Even as she listened to Jane beg her to give her another chance, she couldn't get the feeling out that she wasn't wanted.

For the rest of her life she would live with the guilt of knowing Jane hadn't betrayed her but she had forced Jane from her life. She had been the one to ruin the marriage, not Jane.

She shook her head, trying to force these thoughts from her mind. Thoughts she was sure would drive her crazy.

She tried to think of the good times. Hearing Jane's laughter, seeing her smile, feeling her touch.

There were places in the house where she couldn't get a feeling of Jane's presence – this wasn't one of them.

Funny, she thought since it took some convincing to get her to agree to make this their home.

_"I don't see what the difference is. You moved in here, we live here together, why wouldn't we live here after we get married?"_

_"This is your home. I moved in here not just to be close to you, but because you have too much stuff for you to have moved in with me. I am not sure my entire apartment would have supported what you have in your closets," she smiled, earning her a playful slap from Maura._

_"True, your place would have been inadequate, but I don't see why we shouldn't remain living here after the wedding. It may be a home bought with my family's money, but I don't consider it my home. I think of it as our home. Before it was just a house, someplace to live, but when you came here, it started to feel like a home."_

_"Then you have to give me a room."_

_"What do you mean?"_

_"I need a room that I get to decorate how I want."_

_Maura was not liking the sound of it, but she also knew it was not an unfair request. 'And what would you be doing with this room?"_

_Jane turned toward her, a glint in her eye that told Maura she had been thinking this through long before bringing it up. _

_"I was thinking of maybe converting the basement, which besides being used as storage for most of my stuff anyway, into like game room. I could mount a big screen on the wall, my couch and chair is down there already since Ma didn't want it. I can put my Red Sox memorabilia up and there is room for a pool table and foosball table. It could be a place for the guys to use when they come over to watch a game. This way we wouldn't be messing up anything upstairs."_

_Yes, Maura thought, she had definitely given this some thought before now. Maura looked at her. "That sounds like a good idea."_

_"Really?"_

_"You act surprised."_

_"I thought maybe you would have some reservations."_

_"Like I told you, this is our home."_

_Jane smiled at her and Maura could practically see her laying out the design of her new room in her head. _

_"Have you ever thought about living somewhere other than Boston?" Maura asked her suddenly._

_"No, not really," Jane said. "Why do you ask? Is this where you tell me that you've gotten a job offer in California or worse Texas?"_

_"No, no job offer. I am content with being ME here. I was just making conversation. I didn't really expect you to have any answer besides Boston. After all I can't seem to get you to decide on a place for the honeymoon."_

_"Oh, so this is what that is all about," Jane said. "The honeymoon."_

_"You do realize you have to make a decision at some point."_

_"I don't see why it has to be my decision."_

_"You've left almost everything concerning the wedding up to me. The honeymoon belongs all to you."_

_"Well for your information, I have narrowed it down to two choices."_

_"A three-game home series to the Red Sox is not a honeymoon."_

_"Then I've narrowed it down to one choice."_

_"Are you going to tell me what that is?"_

_"Do you trust me?"_

_"Of course I do."_

_"Then you don't need to worry about it. I have taken care of everything. You just need to trust me."_

_"Ok," Maura said. "I trust you." _

_They settled back down into silence for a bit. _

_"When I was um dating Sam, she used to like to talk about other places we could live. She wasn't content to stay in Boston that was for sure. She would name various places and I would say no to each of them, especially New York. I think she moved there just to spite me some times. Anyway, one day I asked her where would you want to live if we could live anywhere. Guess where she picked for us to live if we had gotten married?"_

_"I have no idea," Maura responded. Jane never spoke much about Sam so she didn't know the other woman at all._

_"Seattle. Can you imagine me living in Seattle?"_

_"No," Maura laughed. "Although you would have plenty of places to feed your coffee addiction."_

_"I do not have a coffee addiction."_

_The conversation broke down to some tickling and kisses before they ended up in bed._

Maura realized that was what had been bothering her – that was why Seattle had stuck out in her mind.

She went back inside and did a quick check of online real estate records and found Samantha still owned four of the five properties in Seattle. Carl had put together his report months ago so she had to be sure before she made her next move.

…

She knew jumping bail should bother her more, but Maura was too focused on finding Samantha to care about the consequences of her actions. Her attorney had called her the day before asking her to come in to the office. Once there he told her the district attorney was willing to make a plea deal – second-degree murder.

With the charge, she would avoid the death penalty, which had been added as a specification to the first-degree murder charge because Jane was a cop. It was typically automatically included in cases where the victim was a law enforcement officer. She could be sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole in 15 years. The prosecuting attorney's office said it would not make a sentencing recommendation to the judge.

The fact the attorney was telling her this was another way of saying they didn't think they could win the case.

So that morning she got into her car, drove to New York and took a light out of there into Seattle. Despite what TV would like people to believe people charged with a crime who are out on bail are not monitored 24/7 and there isn't a list of their names at airports to avoid just what she was doing. Still she drove to New York because someone could have recognized her in Massachusetts.

She had short layover in Chicago that made her nervous, but she was able to make it through on to her connecting flight. She wasn't a criminal before, but jumping bail made her one now.

Once in Seattle she used cash – she always kept several thousands of dollars in cash in the house in case of an emergency – and rented a car. She went to the first address and found it was under renovation. She had talked to the construction foreman acting as if she had just moved to the area and was just curious. He said the owner was fixing it up for resale.

She went on to the next. It was a nice home that was somewhat secluded with only a few houses on the short side street. It didn't appear to need any work done on it. It was a quiet street so she parked on another busier street and walked down to get a better look. She stayed on the opposite sidewalk.

She didn't see anything noteworthy so she went back to her car. She waited around for about 20 minutes but not wanting to seem suspicious she left and went to check out the third address. It was an old house that needed fixing up, but there was no active work being done on it. The other house would require her to go to the complete other side of the city so she backtracked and went to the second house again.

It was growing dark so she knew her time was limited as far as observing anything. She realized she had nothing to lose. Still she was nervous as she walked up to the door and rang the bell. She had to ring it again. Then the door opened.

"Maura. This is an unexpected surprise," Samantha said.


	8. Chapter 8

Maura declined Samantha's offer of something to drink as they sat down in the living room of the home.

"Please forgive the décor, I haven't been here long and I am still making decisions on things such as color schemes," Samantha said as she saw Maura look around the room.

"I am sure you can guess why I am here," Maura said.

"Actually, I can't think of a single reason why you would be here, especially so close to your murder trial."

"I didn't kill Jane. I was set up."

"That should be an interesting story for the jury."

"It will feature you prominently."

"You think I set you up?"

"You personally, I don't know, but you had a hand in it. I know about the emails, the picture – all faked to make me believe Jane cheated on me. I know she didn't cheat on me."

"But you believed she did cheat on you, so what do you think the jury will think about that?"

Maura had never really wanted to punch another woman but seeing that smug look on Samantha's face was enough to make her want to.

"Why did you do it? Why did you … why did you tell me you were sleeping with Jane, having an affair with her when you knew that wasn't that case? You can tell me now or you can wait until the trial. You are a witness called by the prosecution which means my attorney will get to question you and that will be one of the questions."

"Oh I fully expect the prosecution will ask me that as well as they present their case against you. The wealthy, socialite, chief ME who in a fit a rage at her wife's betrayal killed her. The media will have an even bigger field day with that than they are already. As for me, I simply used poor judgment. After sleeping with Jane that night at the hotel I thought she would leave you for me and when she didn't, I got angry and told you that we were having an affair. I had no idea it would lead to you killing her. The emails, the picture, go ahead and have them entered as evidence, I don't care. That was only my way of getting you to speed up the divorce so Jane could move on from her loveless marriage. Believe me Maura there isn't anything they can ask me a trial that I don't have an answer for, a convincing answer."

Maura had to hold back the rage she was feeling. This wasn't going to get her anywhere and it wasn't why she had come there. But even so, she had to ask.

"Did you kill her?"

"As you know, I have an alibi. I was in New York, had several Skype conferences back to back."

"I don't care about your alibi. Did you kill her?"

"No."

Maura didn't know why, but she believed her. Maybe it was the straightforward way in which she answered it. Maybe it was because she didn't think her capable of killing the object of her obsession. Either way, she believed her.

"I came here because I was hoping I could appeal to your humanity," Maura said. "Jane … she deserves to be put to rest properly. I am asking you that if you have any knowledge as to where her body may be to tell me."

"Now why would I know that? I just told you I didn't kill her."

"Yes, but if you think I believe that you weren't involved in someway then you are crazier than I already think you are."

"You think I am crazy?"

"I know about the women you have dated. I know how they all looked like Jane in someway. I know you have tried to recreate your relationship with Jane through these women but it didn't work. It didn't work because there is only one Jane Rizzoli, a fact I am sure you are more aware of than maybe you want to admit. Each of those carbon copies of Jane were pale reproductions of the real thing. They couldn't have come close to her."

"They didn't," Samantha admitted and Maura saw a slight softening in the rigid posture the woman had held since Maura had stepping into her home.

"If you really cared for her, you shouldn't want her body to be rotting somewhere."

"Are you sure I can't get you a drink?"

"I am sure."

"Well I am thirsty, if you will excuse me a moment," Samantha said as she got up and headed to where Maura presumed the kitchen was located. Maura again looked around the room. The one wall had color palettes taped up to it. Apparently, she really was trying to figure out the color scheme.

She noticed none of them were a shade of white, which the walls were currently painted. She had spent one night debating shades of white with Jane once – Jane was of the opinion that white walls were for hospitals and prisons.

Samantha returned with a pitcher if iced tea. She put it down on the coffee table. "In case you change your mind," she said, as she poured herself a glass. Maura wondered if she purposely did that to show her that the tea was safe.

"Now where were we?"

"Jane's body."

"Ah yes. Tell me Maura did you ask Jane out first or was it the other way around?"

The question caught Maura off guard. "She asked."

"I had to ask her out because I didn't think she was ever going to get around to it. My sister had gotten arrested, and while I was more than capable of dealing with it myself, there was Jane offering to help. As a detective she doesn't wear the uniform, but let me tell you Officer Rizzoli looked extremely sexy in it and getting out of it. I could tell she was interested in me, but she wasn't making a move so I had to. She admitted later that she wasn't sure I was gay which held her back from asking me out. I kind of thought it would have been cute to hear her ask me out because back then she was a little shy. How did she ask you?"

This was not the kind of conversation she was looking to have with Samantha but at the same time she felt like if she played along that she might get what she was after.

"We had just finished up a case and were at the Dirty Robber having a couple of drinks with the rest of the team to celebrate. I had gone up to the bar to get a drink and this guy started to hit on me. He was drunk and his advances weren't welcome and Jane let him know that. I thanked her and she just looked at me with that smile on face and said she had a sure fire way to keep guys from hitting on me. I asked her what that would be and she said, 'go out with me.' I accepted immediately. I had thought there was more than friendship between us, but I didn't want to ruin our friendship so I never said anything."

"She looked beautiful on your wedding day," Samantha said. "If you didn't know they used the photo in the newspaper for the story on you being charged with her murder."

Maura was painfully aware of the use of the photo under the headline, "Chief ME charged in Boston detective's murder," with a secondary headline of "Couple had recently divorced."

"She was beautiful. It was the happiest day of my life."

"Yet it was so easily destroyed. Why was that?"

"Because of you."

"No. I mean why were you so willing to believe it?"

Maura had asked herself that question ever since she found out it was all a lie. She didn't have a satisfying answer to it either.

"I don't know."

"Come on Maura, just between us."

"I don't know. I just … it seemed plausible to me. Not that she would cheat, but that there was someone better out there for her."

"That being me."

"If you want to prove you're the better person tell me where I can find her body. Please."

"We are back to that are we?" Samantha said as if she was bored.

"Please Samantha. I won't tell anyone where I got the information, I swear. I will pay you if that is what you want, just … just don't let her have an empty grave."

"I don't need, nor want your money. And let's say I did know, I wouldn't trust you not to tell someone. You are charged with murder after all."

"Then what do you want?"

"Right now, I want to continue talking about Jane. We both loved her, it should be natural enough for us to talk about her."

Maura looked away for a moment. She couldn't tell if Samantha was just toying with her or what. If Jane was there she would know. She had a way of reading people that went beyond the facial patterns Maura studied in people. Jane had an instinct, an ability to know when someone was being truthful or hiding something. With Samantha she couldn't tell.

Maybe it was time to change tactics.

"You say you loved her, but I've been wondering, if you loved her so much why did you break up with her in the first place? I haven't been able to figure that out."

This time Samantha looked away, her face showing signs of regret. "I didn't consider that she would choose Boston over me," she said finally. "I needed to be in New York if I wanted to further my career. I had asked her to come with me, but she refused. I broke up with her thinking that a little time apart would show her that she couldn't live without me. Then she came to New York and I thought here it is; she'll see that she loves me and see the only way for us to continue on would be in New York."

"But that didn't happen."

"No it didn't. I even considered coming back to Boston, but I didn't. And I lost her. But when that bastard Hoyt got her, I rushed back as soon as I heard. I had to see her and know she was ok. Even after all that time, the thought of her coming close to death at his hands – I would have executed him myself if given the chance. And it was nice for awhile and I was established enough in my career that I could have come back to Boston and been with her, but she just refused to see that she needed me to take care of her."

"She felt bad about the things she said to you that night when she kicked you out. That guilt was the only reason why she agreed to see you again. She wanted to apologize. She wanted you to know that it wasn't you she was angry at when she said those things, not really. She was a different person then and it took her a while to heal – not just physically from what Hoyt did to her."

"She came to see me because she wanted to see me. You can think it was about guilt all you want, but Jane and I had a connection that you couldn't understand."

"You don't even feel guilty about what you've done do you?"

"And what is it that you think I've done? I told you I didn't kill her."

"Oh, I believe you. I don't know why but I do. Still, it was your actions that led to her murder. You can pretend that you didn't have a hand in it, but you did. You claim to have loved her, yet you are just as guilty as the person who did kill her."

"I will not be lectured on my love for Jane from someone who clearly didn't love her. You come here saying you want information on where her body is so she can be given a proper burial, tell me Maura where was all that devotion when you were divorcing her?" Samantha said getting to her feet.

"That is the one positive I have been able to take from all this – when she died, we were still married. The divorce papers were forged, but I am guessing you knew that too. Jane and I will always be married and there is nothing you or anyone else can do about that."

Maura too stood up and faced down this woman who had affectively destroyed her life.

"You know Maura, I was going to be content with letting you leave here. Yes, I would have called the cops the moment you left to let them know they could pick up a wanted fugitive from justice, but I was going to let you leave. I was looking forward to your trial, to reading about it day after day until it was my turn to testify. I was looking forward to the jury finding you guilty, but if I've learned one thing in life it's that when things don't go your way, you find another way to get what you want," Samantha said as she pulled a gun out and pointed it at her. "Now do you still want to know where Jane's body is at?"

"Yes," Maura said staring her down.

"Move that way," Samantha said. She directed Maura down a hall into the kitchen. There was a door to her left which Samantha had her open, there were stairs leading to the basement. They went down, Samantha keeping the gun on her and staying far enough back that there was no chance for Maura to do anything.

They got down to the bottom and Maura looked around. There was a washer and dryer but not much else down there. There was a wooden shelf against the wall directly in front of her, but nothing of note otherwise.

"Interesting fact about this house. It was built in 1917. Do you know why that is significant? No. Well I will tell you. The state of Washington actually had a liquor prohibition before most other states and before the 18th amendment which banned it across the nation. The state's prohibition began in 1916. But the state's proximity to Canada made the city an important market for illegal liquor sales and shipping. One of the most famous people was Roy Olmstead, also known as the Rum King. He was actually a cop. He would bring in shipments from Canada but he would need places to store them as well. One of his associates built this house and one next door, which I also happen to own, just not under my name. That house doesn't have a basement, or so the original house plans would have you believe. The shelf in front of you, push it to the side."

Maura did as instructed. It was actually easy to push as there were runners on the floor. Once moved a door was uncovered. Maura opened it when Samantha told her to and then felt along the wall for the light switch. A series of bulbs illuminated a tunnel. They began walking down it.

"You have Jane's body down here?"

"I do."

The tunnel wasn't that long and ended with another door, which Maura opened. She entered a smaller room which was nearly empty. There was a chair sitting in the middle of it and some cabinets. But no Jane.

"Sit in the chair."

"Where's Jane?"

"Sit in the chair and you will find out."

Maura didn't feel as if she had a choice so she sat down.

"Put your hands behind you."

She did so and Samantha went to one of the cabinets and pulled out a plastic zip tie, like police often use on suspects during multiple arrests. She put it around Maura's hands and tightened it and then attached two more to each of her ankles fastening them to the chair.

"I was honestly surprised when you showed up here," Samantha said. "But I had to take precautions in case someone did show up here."

She stood against the wall now facing Maura.

"I don't care what you do to me," Maura said. "Just let me see her body. Let me see my wife."

Samantha tucked the gun into the back of her pants, and used both hands to remove panel from the wall where she had been standing. It revealed a one-way glass similar to those used in interrogation rooms.

Maura stared through it into another bigger room with a bed, but her eyes were on the figure that was lying on it. She tore her eyes away and looked at Samantha, then back at the room. There was Jane lying unconscious on the bed and she was definitely breathing.

"The idea was never to kill her," Samantha said. "I love her, and now she is mine."


	9. Chapter 9

Warning: Chapter contains mentions of non-con situations, but nothing graphic.

* * *

Maura couldn't tear her eyes away from Jane. She was alive. Jane was alive.

"What did you do to her hand?" Maura asked seeing one that was clearly wrapped in bandages.

"After what happened with Hoyt, that should have been our chance –the chance for me and Jane to finally get together for good. Then we would have been the ones getting married, not you and her. She didn't really mean to push me away. Why else would she have felt guilty about it? All she had to do was say she was sorry back then and it would have all been forgiven. But she was hurting, and she hurt me in the process. I made the mistake of leaving when I should have stayed, regardless of what she said. I should have stayed and taken care of her and then she would have seen that it's always been me. This way I get a chance to go back in time and do it right. This time she'll let me help her through it."

Maura listened in horror now knowing what Samantha had done, and she hadn't just done it to the one hand. She had recreated the wounds that Hoyt had given Jane when he had stabbed her with the scalpels.

She knew Samantha was obsessive but she didn't know until that moment how dangerous this woman really was.

"I have always had a passing interest in architecture and building so when I became involved in the housing market, I would visit some of the sites where the houses were being renovated. I learned what I needed to in order to do work on this house. This actually used to be one big open room but I along with some off-the-books help had it constructed into these rooms. There is a full bath in there off of the bedroom. There is sound-proofing in all the walls so it's doubtful anyone would hear you, but just to be safe, I am going to have to gag you," Samantha said. "We can continue this talk later but I need to check on my Jane."

Samantha used cloth bandages, like what were on Jane's hands, to gag her. "Now don't worry, you can still watch and there is a switch in there that will allow sound to travel from that room to here."

Maura didn't even resist when Samantha gagged her, she was still sitting there in disbelief over the fact that Jane was alive. It shouldn't have been possible. She had reviewed the documentation. There was too much blood.

How was she alive?

And at what cost? Jane had struggled to get past what Hoyt had done to her. Her hands were a reminder of that and now Samantha was using that against her.

She watched as Samantha entered the room from the door to Maura's right. The door was closed and locked. Cleary she wasn't going to risk Jane escaping.

Samantha sat on the edge of the bed giving one glance back at Maura before turning her attention to Jane.

"Hey baby, wake up," Samantha said stroking the side of Jane's face. "Come on sleepy head."

Jane slowly – too slowly in Maura's mind – began to stir after Samantha shook her slightly. "Sam?"

Her voice was barely audible to Maura.

"Yeah, baby it's me," Samantha said bending down and kissing Jane on the lips. Jane didn't participate in the kiss, but Maura noticed she didn't fight it either. She wasn't fighting at all.

"Don't feel good," Jane said.

Even from her distance, Maura could tell Jane had sweated through the t-shirt she was wearing.

"I know," Samantha said, again touching Jane's cheek. "I'll go get your medicine."

Samantha disappeared into the room that she guessed was the bathroom and then returned with two vials and two syringes. Maura watched as she injected the contents of both vials into Jane's arm, the last one causing Jane to shudder slightly and close her eyes.

That's why Jane isn't fighting back, Maura conjectured, she's being drugged. But still Samantha wasn't taking any chances as Jane rolled on to her side after the injection and Maura saw there was a leather strap secured to Jane's ankle and the other side must be secured to the bed to keep her from escaping.

How long had she been held like this, Maura wondered. How long had she been drugged like this? Maura began to think of the possibilities of what Samantha could be injecting her with, but the possibilities were too varied.

Whatever it was it was obviously meant to keep Jane docile so it must contain a sedative of some sort. But the sweating could be indicative of a withdrawal symptom, which meant it was addictive or she had been on it long enough that she had become addicted to it.

Samantha went through another door and came out holding some clothes. Closet, Maura thought. She must be keeping Jane down here full-time. She wouldn't want to risk having her upstairs where someone might see her. She disappeared into the bathroom once more.

When she returned she unlocked the strap on Jane's leg and Maura noticed she put the key in her front pants pocket.

"Come on, let's get you a shower," she said and Maura could only watch helplessly as Samantha had to help Jane out of bed and into the other room. The door was shut and Maura tried not to think about Samantha being in the room while Jane showered.

She realized she had sorely underestimated the lengths that Samantha would go through. She wasn't just involved in; she was obviously the mastermind behind the whole set up. She had engineered this so everyone would think Jane was dead so no on would come looking for her.

How had she done it? And how long had she been planning it? For all Maura knew she had been planning this since Jane kicked her out.

She could only hope that Jane wasn't awake when Samantha damaged her hands.

Maura had no idea how much time passed before Samantha and Jane emerged from the bathroom. Jane must be feeling somewhat better because she wasn't leaning on Samantha for support this time.

Both women's hair were wet and both were wearing clothes to sleep in. Maura tensed knowing Samantha had been in the shower with Jane. She pulled against the bonds that held her even though she knew it was a useless gesture.

Jane was wearing shorts and a t-shirt, but this time Maura noticed the bruising on her leg from the strap and there was some other bruises on her arm. Samantha got Jane settled back down onto the bed and put the strap back on her leg – with no protest from Jane, who was lying on her side, her back to Maura.

"I'm going to put the TV on for you while I go lock up the house," Samantha said as she walked over to the flat-screen TV that was mounted on the wall. It was in full view of Maura's vision and of Jane's from the way she was laying, but Maura had no idea if Jane even had her eyes open.

But Maura's eyes got even wider as the screen came on and she began to recognize what it was. She barely paid attention to Samantha exiting the room and coming out to where she was as she was unable to look away from it. It was a video of her, obviously taken by cell phone, talking with Mark Clayton at the bar in Maine. She had already been on her way to being drunk before he approached her.

She didn't really remember much about that night – had barely remembered the guy's name. He was just a random stranger.

But the video – someone had to have been following her, why else would there be a video of her talking to him at the bar.

She saw herself laughing with Mark, although she knew at that point she was forcing it. She had forced that whole encounter – she had just learned she was officially divorced. Her heart was broken and she wanted to feel wanted by someone – someone as different from Jane as she could get. She knew it was wrong, and even as she went to his hotel room – also on the video – she knew it was a mistake.

Thankfully the video stopped after the hotel door closed. But then the video repeated itself again and again like it was on an endless loop. She was horrified by the idea of Jane seeing this over and over again.

She knew her mother had been worried about her and while she never asked Maura why, her mother had hinted at why Maura hadn't cried. Throughout the whole process she had never broken down fully. She had been so devastated by Jane's apparent death that tears weren't enough to express it. She had simply gone numb.

But as the video repeated itself and she watched Jane lying there, she felt the tears begin to fall.


	10. Chapter 10

She had lost feeling in her arms the next morning after a night of barely any sleep. Samantha undid her restraints and allowed her to go upstairs to use the restroom. When she was brought back down, Samantha used two straps similar to what she was using on Jane to secure Maura to a gas main pipe instead of putting her back in the chair. At least now she could walk around a little bit.

"How did you do it?" Maura asked as Samantha forced her to lock her own straps. One was on her ankle, the other on her wrist.

"Knowing now that I pulled this off do you really think I am stupid enough to say how I did it? This isn't some hour-long cop drama where the criminal confesses."

"You had to have had help," Maura said. She had been thinking about it all night, and she knew there was no way Samantha could have done this on her own without assistance.

"I did," she conceded. "Having money opens many doors, wouldn't you agree?"

Maura didn't respond.

"You can't honestly believe you can keep Jane locked up like this forever."

"That's not my intention," she said. "I have plans for me and Jane. We are going to be married. We were going to do this while you were in jail, but that has now changed. The only reason you are alive now is because I don't believe in making rash moves. I am thinking suicide will be most appropriate manner of death. You couldn't live with what you did to Jane and ended your own life. It will be easy enough for people to believe since you voluntarily jumped bail. It's amazing how we as humans are so eager to believe the easy explanation. Take for instance you believing Jane cheated on you. It had to go against everything you believed yet you believed it because the evidence made sense to you."

"Would that be like you believing that Jane would have anything to do with you?"

She saw the slap coming but it wasn't like she could dodge it.

"Jane loves me," Samantha said.

"She loves me," Maura countered but Samantha just laughed.

"Do you really think after all of this, she loves you still? You are delusional if you believe that," Samantha said.  
Maura had to believe that Jane still loved her regardless of what she had done. That belief was the only thing keeping her going at this point – that and her hatred of Samantha. She had never truly wished someone dead before, but she realized she wanted Samantha dead. She wanted her to suffer first though.

Despite her puffy eyes from crying most of the night when Samantha first came into the room that morning, Maura glared at her. It didn't faze Samantha in anyway, but Maura still did it.

"I need to make arrangements for a few things, namely your death," Samantha said. "I am going to trust you to stay here and keep an eye on Jane for me."

She gagged Maura again, and then entered the room where Jane had been lying on the bed all morning after she had her breakfast, which Samantha had spoon-fed her due to her hands. Maura heard Samantha telling Jane she had to go out but would be back in a couple of hours. She turned on the TV, thankfully to a Boston Red Sox game from the DVR and then she kissed Jane, who kissed Samantha back this time.

From Samantha's lack of reaction, Maura was guessing this wasn't the first time she had kissed back. Samantha had given her more injections that morning and Jane just laid there on the bed.

It was if the Jane she knew was really gone and had been replaced with this replica who couldn't do anything.

Samantha left the room and waved to Maura before leaving.

Maura immediately began to assess the lock on the straps trying to figure out if there was a way to get free. The locks were small but that didn't mean they would be any less easy to get off. She would need to find something sturdy enough to stick into the lock first. There was nothing around her though.

Two innings of the baseball game passed when Jane slowly got up from the bed. She walked over to what Maura guessed was a mirror on her side of the glass. She was still attached to the bed from the strap but Samantha had loosened it to give her more range before she left. Maura assumed that was in case Jane had to use the restroom.

"Sam," Jane called out. She did it again, louder and Maura tried to block the sound from her ears. Jane called out one more time and continued to stand there for several minutes. Maura wondered if Jane was sick again. She didn't look well overall, but after a while Jane walked around to the other side of the bed and ducked down. Maura could only see the top of her head and back for a moment before she got up back up and on the bed.

Again she appeared to be waiting, but after a few minutes, she brought her knee up – the one with the strap on that ankle.

Maura wanted to cry out for joy when she realized what was going on. Jane was working on the lock – she was trying to free herself, which meant Jane wasn't as drugged up as Maura had thought she was, and not as much as Samantha thought she was.

She must have been calling out to Samantha to see if she was still around to see if it was safe to get down to work, Maura thought.

For the next couple of innings Jane worked on the lock. Maura couldn't see what she was trying to use to pick the lock but it must have been small. And Jane was struggling with it, mostly because of her bandaged hands. Her fingers were still free but there were several layers of bandages wrapped around the rest of her hands. Handling something so small must have been an added torture to her hands. Still Jane continued to work.

Whether she was tired, frustrated or merely concerned that Samantha would come back, Jane gave up on it after two innings of work. She hid her lock pick again under the bed and then sat up on it watching the game.

Maura wished there was someway for her to let Jane know she was here, that she wasn't alone.

Samantha returned sometime after the game was over. By then Jane was sleeping again. She brought down some food for Maura to eat and water to drink. Maura wondered why she bothered but Samantha hadn't made a move to kill her yet, so she must still be considering how to do it. She was being methodical in her approach, just as she must have been in planning all of this out.

This was a woman who didn't leave things to chance.

She was confident, but not cocky about it. Maura doubted Samantha would ever come clean about what she had done in part because she thought she was justified in doing it. She really believed she could have Jane as she wanted Jane to be. It may also be her Achilles heel.

This time Maura watched the interaction between Samantha and Jane more closely. She watched them as she might observe subjects in an experiment. In particular she was paying attention to Jane's body movements. Whenever Samantha got near her she would move ever so slightly in the opposite direction. Her body was stiff and forced whenever they were close. Jane wanted nothing to do with this woman, but she was making herself play along – probably waiting for her moment.

Jane was strong, and the fact she hadn't just taken on Samantha head-to-head was a mystery to Maura. Maybe the drugs kept her too weak physically, or maybe it was because of her hands, either way Jane hadn't made a move.

Samantha did most of the talking as they sat on the bed together with the TV on the news. About the most Jane contributed to the conversation was the occasional agreement with whatever Samantha was talking about. There was a rather ridiculous conversation including color palettes on what they should paint the rooms upstairs as if Samantha had any intention of letting Jane up there.

It appeared that Samantha was keeping a routine up. She kept looking at her watch as if she had planned out how each minute of the day should go.

Maura noticed she never had a phone on her or really anything else that would be of use to Jane if she could get free. Samantha wasn't totally naïve then about what Jane might be capable of. She thought about the bruises on Jane's arm and wondered if Jane had already tried to escape and failed.

Samantha would go upstairs for stretches of time, but during those times Jane didn't work on the lock. But then again Samantha said she would be right upstairs so Jane apparently wasn't willing to risk it.

During one of these times she put the video on once again.

Maura couldn't watch again so she sat on the floor so she couldn't see it from that angle. But after awhile, she couldn't stand not seeing Jane so she stood up. Jane was now sitting on the edge of the bed watching the video. Maura couldn't see her face but she saw her hands were in the best form of a fist that she could manage – her knuckles pressing down into the bed.

She didn't know why Jane was actively watching it, but she wished she wouldn't. She couldn't imagine why she would want to watch it especially so intently. She had witnessed Jane obsessively go through video during an investigation looking for clues or evidence but this wasn't the same – or was it?

Maura forced herself to watch the video. Then she watched again and again.

The video was clearer than her memory of that night, but she still wasn't seeing any reason why Jane would be watching it. Whoever had shot the video was at a perfect angle to show her interaction with Mark. She watched as Mark took a drink from the bartender and handed it to her. At that moment Jane got up in a huff. She paced a little bit –something she did to calm herself down generally.

She thought back to that night but it was through a haze from the alcohol she had drank. She had been drinking wine most of the evening. She vaguely recalled Mark suggesting she drink something else and everything after that was pretty much a blank. She sort of recalled going to the hotel room, but after that …

She moved as close as she could to the window and watched the video again.

…

Maura was sitting on the floor again when Samantha returned. She went right over to Maura and tore out the gag. "Who knows you came here?"

"No one."

"Lying to me at this point would not be in your best interest."

"Why you've already destroyed my marriage and are going to kill me anyway?"

"Yes, but how Jane comes through this can be swayed by your cooperation."

Maura nodded. "Fine, I will answer your question if you answer one of mine."

"Deal."

"You had me drugged, didn't you?" Maura said. "Just like with what you did to Jane. I didn't sleep with him, did I?"

"You know I was beginning to think your intelligence level was greatly exaggerated," Samantha smiled. "No, you didn't sleep with him. Not that it matters. I set you up completely to take the fall for Jane's murder, and I ensured that with Mark that you wouldn't have a support system like the Rizzolis to fall back on even if they were willing to speak to you after you killed her. Your destruction was going to be complete."

"Why?" Maura asked. "Why do you have this hatred of me? We'd never even met before this."

"You took her from me," Samantha said getting in her face. "You stole what belonged to me. Did you think you could get away with that without having to face the consequences?"

"You're insane."

Samantha merely smiled again and backed up. "Who knows you came here?"

"No one knew I was coming here, that is the truth, but as you pointed out before I did voluntarily jump bail so it was only a matter of time before someone came looking for me."

"But why would they think to come here to Seattle, who did you tell?"

"No one. I had hired a private investigator who help collect background on you. He is the one who found out you quit your job and were moving to the West Coast. He mentioned that you had flight layovers in Seattle for no apparent reason. I found out you had property out here and came looking."

Samantha backed up again, considering. She gave that smile one more time and then put the gag back in Maura's mouth. "By this time tomorrow, you will be dead."


	11. Chapter 11

A/N: Sorry it's taken so long to update. I had the chapter written but when I went back through there were things I didn't like about it so I did a rewrite.

* * *

Maura could only wonder as to why Samantha had asked her about who knew she was in Seattle. Someone must be looking for her – the authorities most likely.

Instead of going into the room where Jane was, Samantha went back upstairs.

She had to figure out a way to get her and Jane out of there. If she didn't, she had no doubt that Samantha would make good on her threat. The woman obviously believed that Maura was in part at least responsible for why her and Jane weren't together. Samantha firmly believed she could have a life with Jane, and that made her dangerous because she had shown she was willing to do anything to have that.

If the authorities had tracked her down to the rental car which was parked nearby it wouldn't be a giant leap of logic for them to come to Samantha's home – if and only if Boston PD was working with Seattle PD. Departments weren't always as friendly as tv shows and movies made them out to be. Depending on what was going on, Seattle PD may not have the manpower, time or willingness to look for a fugitive for Boston. Many times fugitives were only caught when they were caught for another crime and once their fingerprints were run, the other arresting agency would know if there was a warrant out for them.

Of course, Maura was wanted for murdering a cop which would automatically make her more of a target than a normal fugitive.

She tried to turn her thoughts from examining why Samantha had asked her that, and shift it to escape. She had nothing which she could try and pick the lock with. Jane had taught her a few techniques but she would need a thin tool of some sort to even try. Jane had one in the room with her, but she was using it sparingly, trying not to get caught by Samantha. Maura couldn't help but wonder how much the damage to her hands were also hindering her.

While Jane may be more lucid than what she first believed, Maura had no doubt that she was in bad shape, perhaps too bad to take on Samantha one-on-one. Her movements were not the sharp, decisive ones she was used to seeing from Jane. Her skin was pale, and despite her lying down a lot Maura wasn't sure she was sleeping as she had circles under her eyes and when she did move it was slowly. She needed to be examined by a medical doctor. She needed to be in a hospital where they could determine what Samantha had been injecting into her.

The pipe to which Maura was chained to was too secure to try and break it. The chain itself wasn't going to break either. Her only hope was getting the lock undone which again didn't seem a possibility at this point.

Her frustration was quickly turning to anxiety. She was Jane's only hope. No one else knew that Jane was alive. Samantha could do anything with Jane and that thought more than anything scared Maura. She wasn't worried about her own life and what it would mean if Samantha killed her –only what her death would mean for Jane's chances at ever getting out.

Even though she knew it was useless she began to tug on the chains that held her. She kept tugging until she was spent. It served no purpose, but she was desperate enough to try.

Samantha came down again, Maura guessed it was late in the evening. She ignored Maura and went straight to Jane's room. She kissed Jane, who again kissed back, and Maura could only hope that it was indeed Jane just playing along.

"It's time for bed," Samantha said. "But I still have work to do upstairs so I am going to give you your medicine and then you can go to sleep."

"You aren't staying with me?" Jane asked.

"No, I can't," Samantha said going into the bathroom. She came out a few moments later with two syringes. Jane presented her arm for Samantha to inject her. Maura wondered how many times they had been through this routine and how long it took for Jane to allow it to happen. Even if she was playing along, at some point she had to have made the conscious decision to stop fighting Samantha and that worried Maura.

Jane had been alone with Samantha for months now and it wasn't just her physical state that was being damaged.

"I don't want you to go," Jane said after Samantha disposed of the syringes in the bathroom.

"I know you don't," Samantha smiled and she leaned in and kissed her. "But you will be asleep soon and you won't even notice I am not here."

"I'll notice."

"I will tell you what, why don't I lie here with you until you fall asleep and then once you are asleep, I will go. Deal?"

"Ok."

"Good," Samantha said. "Let's get settled into bed then."

They both laid down, Jane on her back and Samantha laid next to her, an arm across Jane's midsection and her leg across one of Jane's. They lie there, both awake for a while, before Jane's eyes started to close. Once they did, it wasn't long before Jane was breathing evenly. Still Samantha lie there against her for a long time before getting up, turning off the last remaining light and leaving the room.

She stood next to the window looking in at Jane sleeping for awhile.

"I don't like not being there beside her," Samantha said. "She tends not to sleep well when I am not there. She had nightmares about what that bastard Hoyt did to her. One night, it must have been about six weeks ago now, I wasn't there and when I did get back she was all curled up on the bed crying. I got into bed and I held on to her. I could feel each time her body shook and I knew I should be upset that my Jane was in such a state, but I wasn't. I wasn't because she let me have that moment with her. She was vulnerable and she needed me and I knew in that moment she and I would be able to get through this and when we do we are going to be a stronger couple for it."

Samantha kept her gaze on Jane as if she didn't even care that Maura was there, and maybe she didn't, Maura thought. Then Samantha turned without saying anything and left.

Maura sunk to the floor. Even if she could get Jane out of here, what condition would she be in?

…

The next day came and went without any threats of death or actions from Samantha. She was allowed to use the bathroom upstairs again, but Maura noticed Samantha was being even more cautious than before. She made Maura go slowly and Maura noted that the blinds were all drawn down and curtains shut. It hadn't been like that the first time she was up there.

That night Samantha again waited with Jane until she fell asleep before going upstairs. Four more days – or so Maura thought – passed in the same sort of routine. Everything about Samantha was unnerving to Maura. The way she looked at Jane, the way she spoke to her and the subtle manipulations. The night before for dinner Samantha had brought down steak for Jane. It was a whole steak and with her hands there was no way for Jane to cut it into pieces so Samantha did it for her, even feeding her a couple of pieces before eating her own.

Samantha had clearly thought out everything. She wasn't leaving anything to chance, which meant there was a reason she hadn't followed through on her threat to kill her. That meant something was disrupting or delaying her plan, or else she had rethought it and the moment wasn't right.

As for Jane, Maura could only watch and feel like she was slipping further away from the woman she loved. It was if she had given up control of her life to Samantha. She hadn't once tried to unlock her cuff since that one time Maura saw her doing it. It wasn't as if she hadn't had time, she had time, she just hadn't done it.

Samantha hadn't spent the night down there though and that also had Maura wondering why that was.

Her own nerves were shot. She knew now there was no way she could get out of this on her own. That night she had paced the floor after Samantha had gone upstairs, every once in a while looking into the room and wishing she would get one last chance to hold Jane in her arms.

Maura must have finally given in to exhaustion because when she woke Samantha was already in Jane's room, although she didn't see Jane. Samantha was putting fresh sheets and bed clothes on the mattress. There was music playing, one of Jane's favorite bands, and Samantha seemed happy, which couldn't be a good sign.

As Samantha was finishing up Jane came out of the bathroom. She must have been showering as her hair was wet and she was wearing only a robe. Samantha smiled as she approached her, kissing her. Jane wrapped her arms around her and Maura had to look away.

"Can I see what you've done with the upstairs today?" Jane asked.

"It's not quite done and I want it to be perfect," Samantha said. "Besides, I have to go to the pharmacy today and pick up some more medication for you."

"Maybe you could talk to them about lowering the dosage. It's just it makes me feel groggy all the time. I feel like all I do is lay around when I should be helping you with the house."

"Well they probably already have this batch made up but I will speak to them and next time hopefully. And don't worry about helping me. All that matters right now is you. We'll get your hands all healed up," Samantha said taking Jane's hands in hers. "And then we can start getting on with our lives. Together."

"Together."

They kissed again, but Maura wasn't even watching. She was sitting on the floor with her eyes closed just listening.

"Speaking of medicine, it's time for yours and then I will get going, so you might want to put some clothes on."

Jane smiled, "I didn't think you would mind," she said indicating her current covering.

"Oh, I don't, but I have a schedule to keep and I have to get going."

"Ok." Jane went back into the bathroom, changed into a pair of shorts and a plain black T-shirt. When she came out, Samantha gave her two injections and locked the cuff back on her before kissing her goodbye. Samantha left the room and waved to Maura as she passed.

Maura could hear the TV – it was on some sports channel. She imagined Jane was merely lying there on the bed watching it, getting ready to sleep once more or at least lie there in a daze. She laid down on the hard floor with no intention of sleeping but she couldn't bring herself to stand and watch Jane again today.

Maybe this was why Samantha had delayed in killing her – maybe she wanted to torture Maura with this first.

She wasn't sure how long she laid there – she guessed a couple of hours based on what she could hear from the TV so she finally decided to get up and at least move around. She got to her feet and instinctively looked for Jane.

She moved as close to the window as her chain would allow her.

"Come on Jane," she said.

Jane was working on picking the lock on her cuff again.

Maura began to pace as Jane worked. She could see Jane was getting frustrated as she would give up every so often and lay back on the bed before starting again. Even from as far away as she was she could see Jane was sweating badly. She would drink from one of the bottles of water Samantha left for her each day, but it didn't seem to be helping. It could be from her stress, it could be the temp in the room which could be hotter than out here for all Maura knew, but most likely it was from the drugs.

She had begun to consider more and more that at least one of the drugs Samantha was giving her was a form of a narcotic, which meant Jane could be addicted to it by this point. She remembered Jane telling her once that after her hands were injured they had tried to give her all kinds of drugs and she had refused many of them. She didn't want to feel like she was taking a drug. When she shot herself outside of the precinct to end the hostage situation it was the same thing. She took what she needed but that was it.

Having worked on the drug squad she was more than educated on what it meant to be an addict.

Maura was sure Jane would give up entirely on picking the lock as time continued to tick down but she kept at it. Maura could tell Jane was getting tired again. Her movements were less steady and she seemed to have trouble concentrating on her task.

It didn't make sense. The drugs she had been injected with that morning should begin to wear off, not come back to affect her hours later, unless… Maura looked at the water next to Jane's bed. Samantha always brought it down from upstairs. The caps were never screwed on completely. Maura had thought that so Jane could get them off easier because of her hands, but what if it was because Samantha had put something in the water.

Jane could have been drugging herself without even knowing it.

A few minutes later both women were surprised when Jane did it. The lock came loose and she hurried to get the cuff off of her leg. She got off the bed, but as soon as she got to her feet she nearly fell, using the bed to hold herself upright. Maura hoped it was only because she moved too fast. Jane moved around the bed and that was when Maura realized something else – the door was locked. Jane would have to try and pick this one as well and so much time had passed that Maura was worried that Samantha could be back any moment.

She couldn't see Jane because of the door but she stayed on her feet in anticipation. This was their only chance at escape, of that she was sure.

Minutes passed by, then an half and hour and then an hour. Maura wasn't even sure Jane was awake on the other side of the door. Every once in a while she would see the doorknob move little or she would hear a noise but there had been nothing for at least 20 minutes.

She took the gag out of her mouth. She could have done it at anytime, but Samantha had made it clear what would happen to Jane if Maura had tried anything. That fear had kept Maura at bay but not now. She knew with the soundproofing that Jane might not be able to hear her, but she had to try.

"Jane!" she called out. "Jane, it's me Maura. Jane come on, if you can hear me let me know. Bang on the door or something, just let me know you can hear me. Jane!"

Nothing.

She tried again, yelling louder this time, hoping Samantha wasn't upstairs or even in the hall. If she was, all her yelling wouldn't make a difference.

"Jane, please. I need you to hear me. I need you to be ok. Please Jane, let me know you are ok."

Silence.

Maura sunk to her knees. "Jane, I'm sorry. This is all my fault. I am sorry that I doubted you. I am sorry that I put you in this position. I just … I just want to see you and hold you in my arms one more time," she said starting to cry. She wasn't even speaking loudly enough at the point to be heard. "Please Jane, I love you."

She was still crying there on the floor when Samantha came in.

"What's the matter Maura, finally given up?" she said approaching her.

Maura looked up at her. Never had she felt more defeated but still she wouldn't give Samantha the satisfaction as she got to her feet. She glanced over and saw Jane was lying on the bed again. "You can kill me," Maura said. "But if you think Jane will ever be yours, I mean really yours, you are insane. Keep drugging her, keep her locked up, it doesn't matter because you will have to live with knowing you can't have her anyway but this way. She will never be yours."

Samantha leaned into her, and whispered into her ear. "Keep telling yourself that Maura because we both know she will never be yours again."

She moved away toward the door and as soon as she put her key in Maura watched as Jane quickly got off the bed and moved toward the door. Samantha unlocked it and began to open it and Jane must have launched herself against it at that moment.

It knocked Samantha up to the wall and Jane fell forward on to the floor. She started to get to her feet but paused. "Maur?" she said locking eyes on her.

"Jane! Look out."


	12. Chapter 12

Samantha kicked at the one of the only parts of Jane she would get to while the door had her partially pinned against the wall. The sole of her shoe made contact with the side of Jane's head knocking her down, but she was still conscious. It gave Samantha the time she needed to get out from the door.

"Jane, get up," Maura said.

But Jane was moving too slow whether it was from the blow to the head or the drugs she didn't know. She was on her hands and knees trying to get up with Samantha kicked her in the midsection hard causing her to drop to the floor once more.

"You ungrateful bitch," Samantha said kicking her in the ribs several more times. Jane tried to curl up to protect herself, but it didn't do any good. She rolled over to get away and again tried to make it to her feet. She was part way up when Samantha grabbed a hold of her and pushed her against the wall, holding her there.

Maura could see Jane was barely conscious at this point. She must be operating on pure will by this time. She had put so much effort into freeing herself and then slamming the door open on Samantha that it wasn't taking much for Samantha to get the upper hand.

Jane struggled to free herself, grabbing a hold of Samantha and they pushed and pulled at each other but it didn't work and Samantha slammed her against the wall once more.

"Now Jane my love, I thought you learned your lesson after the last time you pulled something like this," Samantha said.

"Let her go," Jane said.

Samantha glanced over her shoulder.

"You want me to let Maura go?"

Jane nodded, her eyes already starting to close. Maura was fairly sure that if Samantha hadn't been holding Jane up she would have fallen down already.

"I will let her go as soon as she is dead," Samantha said. "In fact I am going to give you the gift of revenge on Maura for all the hurt she has caused you. I am going to let you kill her."

Jane's eyes closed completely and Samantha let her drop to the floor.

"When she wakes up, we're going to end this," Samantha said to Maura.

Maura knew Jane would never kill her but she also knew Samantha must have something in mind. Samantha went into the other room and into the bathroom – to get more drugs Maura imagined.

She looked at Jane who suddenly opened her eyes. Jane moved her right hand up and Maura could see the small key chain in it. When she was struggling with Samantha Jane must have gotten the keys. She tossed them to Maura who barely caught them as Jane's throw wasn't very good. Jane put her head back down and Maura hoped that was only because she was trying to fool Samantha.

Maura had to hide the keys behind her back as Samantha reappeared. She bent down and injected Jane's arm. Jane never moved. Samantha proceeded to drag her into the room and while her back was turned Maura unlocked herself. Once that was done, she slid the keys back against the wall where Jane had been.

The last thing she needed was for Samantha to realize her keys were gone. She didn't feel good about her chances of taking Samantha on one-on-one. She needed to think this through. She sat down in a way that made it seem like she was still secured to the wall and waited.

Samantha came out after what seemed like a long while. She shut the door and reached for her keys and noticed they were missing. She glanced around, seeing them on the floor. She looked once at Maura before relocking the door and leaving.

Maura waited for a long time to make sure Samantha wasn't coming right back and then she stood up. Jane was back on the bed and back to being secured to it. She put her own chains down on the floor and began to consider a plan to get them both out. First she would need to get into that room. It was a double-cylinder door knob lock so that key entry was required on either side to open it – not your standard door knob you got from a home improvement store. Jane had either given up on trying to pick it on her side or else was worried about the time it was taking and decided on her other plan instead.

She was clearly not expecting to see Maura there and her pausing when she saw Maura may have cost her the advantage she needed to get free on her own. Now it was going to be up to Maura to free her.

She went first to the cabinets and opened them hoping to find something useful. She found some plastic ties like she was originally bound up with, some of the soundproofing insulation and nothing else in the first cabinet. The second cabinet had some bottles of water in it. The seals were in tact.

What was she going to do? She could wait on Samantha to return and try and take her out before she could retaliate but there was no way to know when that would be.

She walked to the one-sided glass and began examining it. She could tell from the way it was set into the wall that it wasn't as thick as the ones used at the station. This glass could be easier to break.

She began to consider her options again, trying to think quickly but carefully.

The chair she was originally placed in was still in the room, off to the side by one of the cabinets. She brought it over to the glass. If she used it to break the glass it was going to make a lot of noise, perhaps too much to give her the time she needed. She thought again, feeling nervous about Samantha coming back at anytime.

She went back to the cabinet and pulled out some plastic ties and the soundproofing insulation. She sat on the ground securing the insulation to the legs of the chair with the ties. It wasn't perfect and it would still make some noise but hopefully not as much. She wished she had something to secure more of the insulation over the glass but there was nothing she could see that would work.

Picking up the chair, she swung it at the glass. The impact made noise and jarred her so badly she almost dropped it. The glass was still intact though. She hit again and again and she started to see cracks form. She changed tactics; instead of hitting it broadside she used the feet of the chair to ram the glass.

That did it as the glass shattered. She put the chair down and put more insulation on the frame to keep herself from getting cut on the residual glass and she used the chair to lift herself over and into the room. She ran up to Jane.

"Jane!" she said checking her pulse. It was steady but slow. She shook her gently. "Jane I need you to wake up. Jane come on, wake up please."

But Jane continued to sleep.

She checked the strap that was secured around Jane's ankle. It was similar to the straps used in hospitals to keep patients down. Whereas the straps that had secured Maura had chains on the inside of the cloth, this was a leather strap, which meant while Maura couldn't unlock it she might be able to cut it.

She grabbed a larger piece of the mirror and some of the insulation to wrap around it so she could hold it and began to cut at the leather. Her hope was that this room was far enough from Samantha that she hadn't heard anything or wasn't on her way back. She got the leather cut and Jane was now free, but she was still asleep. She tried waking her again, but nothing.

She went to the bathroom to see if there was anything there. She opened the medicine cabinet and found several unmarked vials. There was no way of knowing what she had been pumping into Jane. She did find something useful though as she grabbed an ammonia inhalant. She could only guess that Samantha had them down here to rouse Jane from sleep.

She tore off part of the top of the covering and put it under Jane's nose. Jane woke suddenly moving to get away from the smell.

"Jane," Maura said in relief.

"Maura?" Jane said in confusion as if she was seeing her for the first time here. Jane looked around. "Where's Sam?"

"She's upstairs I think. We need to get you out of here." She reached to help Jane but Jane moved as if she didn't want Maura touching her.

"What are you doing here?" Jane asked.

"It's a long story," Maura said. "And one we don't have time for. We have to get out of here." She could see Jane's eyes were glassy and she was already looking tired again. She may have a concussion from the head wound. "Look Jane, I will explain everything but first we have to get out of here."

"I'm thirsty," she said reaching for one of the bottles of water still on the bed stand, but Maura was quicker.

"I think Samantha may have laced these with something. There are some bottles of water out there with the seals intact; we can get you one of those."

Jane got off the bed under her own power, but Maura could see she was in bad shape. She kept one of her arms wrapped around her midsection where Samantha had kicked her. Maura went through the window first, it wasn't as easy this time without the chair being on that side but she managed it. But she quickly determined Jane, while taller than her, would not be able to do that with her hands. Maura handed her the chair and Jane used it to get up and over, but Maura had to keep her from falling down completely. As it was, she lowered Jane to the ground and then got her a bottled water. She opened it up and helped her take a drink.

Maura wanted to tear the bandages off her hands and see the damage done but that would have to wait.

She helped Jane back to her feet – this time Jane allowed it, but as soon as she was on feet she took a step away from Maura. She put her hand on the wall to keep herself steady. They had only one option now – go through the tunnel. This door had only a regular door knob on it with the lock on the other side, which meant they could easily open it. She led the way, going slow to keep an eye on Jane who had to stay against the wall to keep upright. She needed to get Jane to a hospital.

They got to the end of the tunnel and the other door. She tried to open it, but couldn't. It was like something was blocking it. That's when she remembered the shelf she had to slide out of way to reveal this door. It was blocking it.

They were trapped.


	13. Chapter 13

"We're going to have to wait until Samantha comes down here and unblocks the door," Maura said

Jane hit the wall with the flat of her hand and then brought it back and looked at the bandages.

"Did you hurt your hand?" Maura said coming closer.

"I'm fine," Jane said backing up. She looked up and saw the bulbs. "We need to break a couple of these bulbs. At least two of them in a row in about the middle of the tunnel."

"Why? What do you have in mind?"

"We need an advantage. Do you think you can break them or unscrew them or something?"

"Yes," she said.

…

Samantha opened the door to the tunnel and immediately noticed the missing bulbs. The center of the tunnel was completely dark. She backed out of the tunnel a moment and considered it. The wiring was not especially good down here, but the idea that more than one bulb would go at the same time was more than a little suspicious to her.

She shut the door and moved the shelf back into position.

She returned about 20 minutes later with a flashlight and her gun.

Samantha knew Jane was in no condition to have done anything, which meant that if these bulbs were intentionally knocked out it was Maura's doing. She knew about Maura, knew she ran, was fit, had taken some self-defense and yoga, all of which meant nothing as long as Samantha had a gun.

She shined her light down the tunnel. Nothing out of place beyond the bulbs which were still screwed in. She walked down the hall cautiously though. She made it to the other door – it was unlocked.

Now she was on high alert.

She swung the door open, but stayed back from the opening, keeping her gun ready. Nothing. She angled herself to look into the room to where Maura should be, but she was gone. She moved to the other side and looked – the glass was broken.

"Maura," she called out.

No answer.

"Maura if you think you can get Jane out of here you are mistaken. Come out where I can see you now and I will make this as painless as possible,"

"Sam," she heard Jane's voice call out.

"Jane, where's Maura?"

"She's in here. On the floor, tied up."

Samantha paused before entering slowly. She checked the corners of the room. Having dated a cop she had learned several useful things. The room was clear and she walked carefully to the broken glass and looked in. Jane was sitting on the bed, which was in a state of disarray, with one leg dangling off the side, her back against the head board. Maura was sitting on the ground opposite of her with her hands behind her back.

"Maura stand up and turn around," Samantha ordered, pointing the gun at her.

Maura struggled to get to her feet and Samantha saw her hands were tied behind her back with what looked like a torn piece from the sheet. It looked to be tightly bound, but Samantha was still cautious.

"Sit back down," she said.

She waited for Maura to do so and then turned back to Jane who had her eyes closed. She was sweating a lot, and Samantha knew it was past time for her medication. "Jane?"

Jane opened her eyes and looked over at Samantha. "What happened Jane?"

"I don't … I was sleeping and then Maura was here. She kept saying I had to leave you. And I didn't … I don't feel good Sam."

"I know baby," she said. She was torn between wanting to check on Jane and not trusting this whole situation. "Can you tell me why Maura is tied up?"

"Um, she um …," Jane closed her eyes a moment. Samantha recognized this as one of the symptoms of the medication wearing off. It would make Jane sick usually with a bad headache that was like a debilitating migraine. Usually when they happened, Samantha would give her more medication and lay with her until it passed. Lying with Jane in bed was one of her favorite moments. "She tried to make me go away from you," Jane said. "You said we were going to be together."

"We are," Samantha reassured her. "We are. Now I want you to stay there. Do not get off the bed; I am coming in."

Jane closed her eyes again and Samantha went to the door and unlocked it, staying to the side away from the wall just in case. She opened the door and nothing happened. She carefully eased her way over to the other side and could see in where Jane was still on the bed. She peaked in and saw Maura still on the floor.

She entered slowly and kept her gun ready. She moved closer to the bed and reached out to touch Jane's forehead and then her cheek. She had a fever and her skin was clammy. "You stay right there Jane, I am going to get your medication."

Samantha walked past the bed to where Maura sat on the floor. She pointed the gun at her while she stepped carefully around her and into the bathroom.

…

Maura was worried. The plan was for Jane to get the gun from Samantha as soon as got close to her. She had been worried that Jane wasn't physically up for it, but Jane had assured her that she was, but despite the opportunity, Jane hadn't done it.

Jane had insisted on tying her hands for real, saying Samantha would notice if they weren't. She had protested but Jane had said, "maybe you could try trusting me for a change," and Maura had felt like she had no choice.

They had been sitting there for an unknown amount of time, and Maura had tried to talk to Jane, but Jane wasn't having it. She told she needed to be quiet in case Sam came, and then it was she had to be quiet because Jane had a headache.

Now Maura was concerned more than ever with Jane's behavior.

She looked at Jane now, but like before it was like Jane wouldn't make eye contact with her.

Samantha came out of the bathroom and she walked over to the other side of the bed, getting on it. She placed the gun down between her and Jane, but Jane made no move toward it. Instead she stuck her arm out while Samantha cleaned the area and then injected Jane.

"You should start to feel better soon," Samantha said. "Why don't you lie down?"

Jane did so, and Maura was convinced now that whatever it was Samantha was injecting her with was some sort form of narcotic. Samantha put the used syringe aside and picked up the gun. She sat there with her back against the headboard staring at Maura.

"Did you really think you could take her away from me?" Samantha asked her.

"She doesn't belong to you, she doesn't belong to anyone. If you really loved her you would see that."

"I do love her. I am totally devoted to her. Isn't that right, don't I love you?"

Jane had been lying there on her back, occasionally closing her eyes like they were now. "Yes," she said.

"See."

"Love? Is that what you call drugging her, beating her, keeping her chained up in here. You are insane. I don't normally jump to diagnosis like that, but in this case it's true. You are insane, and you aren't going to win."

Samantha pointed the gun at her, "That is where you are wrong. In fact we're going to end this right now."

"No," Jane said. "You said I could do it." She sat up, not without a struggle to do it. Both women were now looking at her. Jane held her hand out for the gun. Samantha looked at the hand and then at Maura and she smiled seeing the look of surprise on Maura's face.

She handed the gun over to Jane, who gripped it and then got off the bed.

"Stand up," she said pointing the gun at Maura.

"Jane, don't do this," Maura pleaded. This wasn't how it was supposed to happen.

"Stand up," she repeated.

Maura got to her feet. "Jane, whatever she has done to you, you have to fight through it. You are strong, you have always been strong. Fight her."

"Shut up," Jane said suddenly and fiercely. "You destroyed me, Maura. You … all I wanted was us and you destroyed me and for what so you could go sleep with some man? How could you do that to me?"

Maura glanced at Samantha, seeing the look of triumph on her face as she stood on the other side of the bed watching the scene play out. "Jane, listen to me, I didn't sleep with him. That's not what happened. Jane please, I love you. You are still my wife, I still love …"

The sound of the bullet discharging from the gun scared her more than actually seeing it. Even though she saw Jane move her hand up to direct the gun toward the ceiling, it still scared Maura.

"Don't you dare say that to me," Jane warned her.

This was definitely not what they had planned and Maura knew she had to tread carefully. She never thought Jane would ever look at her with the anger she was now.

"Do it Jane," Samantha said. "It will be easier once she is gone. She doesn't love you."

"I know," Jane said sadly and she centered the gun to hit Maura square on. The two women looked at each other. Maura saw Jane's eyes focus.

"Good-bye," Jane said and then turned firing the gun at Samantha. The bullet hit Samantha in the shoulder and the force knocked her against the wall. She stared at Jane in disbelief. Jane moved around Maura and toward Samantha who was holding her other hand against the wound.

She pointed the gun at Samantha's head. "That was a clean shot, easy to heal, the next one won't be. Tell me why I shouldn't kill you right now," she said.

"You should," Samantha said. "If I don't get to have you I don't want to live."

Jane continued to hold the gun to her head.

"Jane," Maura said. "Don't."

Jane didn't look at her, her eyes staying on Samantha.

"I love you Jane, I always have," Samantha said. "I just wanted us to be together forever, like we used to talk about. Remember, how we would lie there in bed for hours after you got off shift and we'd talk about the future. That is what I wanted, our future. Don't you see, you and I were meant to be together?"

"You're sick," Jane said, backing away but keeping the gun pointed at her. She reached Maura and told her to turn around. It was difficult, but Jane managed to get the tie loosened enough for her to free herself.

"Jane, don't leave me," Samantha said taking two steps toward them which prompted Jane to point the gun at her again. "Jane, you love me. You know you do."

"Jane, let's get out of here," Maura said lightly touching her arm, but Jane shrugged her off. Jane's eyes stayed on Samantha even as she started backing up with Maura to leave the room. They got out of the room, Jane being careful to keep an eye on Samantha as best as she could. They got to the other door and into the hall, shutting the door behind them. If Samantha followed them, at least her opening the door would give them a warning.

No sooner was the door closed than Jane was leaning against the wall. The gun was still in her hand and Maura had noticed as they had left Jane's hand was beginning to shake.

"Why don't you give me the gun?" Maura said.

"I got it,"

Jane stood up straight and they began to walk again but Jane again had to stop.

"Where does it hurt?" Maura asked.

"Every where," Jane said. "Hurts to breathe."

"She may have broken a rib when she kicked you. We need to get you to a hospital."

They got to the end of the tunnel and were able to leave it this time. Maura shut the door and shoved the shelf back into place to keep Samantha trapped down there until they could call the authorities. When she turned back around Jane was using the wall again to stay upright and the gun slipped from her hand. Whatever energy she had used down there was fading fast.

Maura picked up the gun, "let me help you Jane.'

Jane allowed her to put an arm around her and Jane leaned heavily on her as they made it upstairs. She sat Jane down on a chair in the main room and began looking around for a phone, but found none. Perhaps Samantha had her cell on her. Maura couldn't afford to do an in-depth search; she needed to get Jane some medical attention. Jane had her eyes closed and Maura had to shake her to get her to open them. "Come on, we need to get out of here."

She got Jane to her feet and they made for the front door. She opened it and got out to the porch when she heard yelling and suddenly there were two men running at them – not men, police officers.

"Put the gun down!" one of them ordered, his gun pointed at Maura, who realized she was in fact holding a gun. She started to bend down to lay it on the porch and as she did so Jane slipped from her hold and fell to the floor unconscious. Still moving slowly, she looked at the officer, "Please listen, my name is Dr. Maura Isles. That is Jane Rizzoli, she is a Boston Homicide Detective and she needs to get to a hospital," she said placing the gun on the ground and standing back up with her hands up. "Just get her to a hospital. She's been held captive …"

The officer advanced on her forcing her to back up. "Turn around and face the wall."

She knew she had to do it, but the other officer was radioing in for an ambulance so she didn't care. "Dr. Maura Isles you are under arrest," the officer said and he brought her hands down and cuffed her as he began reading her rights to her.

She barely paid attention to him, too concerned for Jane who was still unconscious. He grabbed her arm and began to direct her off the porch. "No, wait," she said. "You don't understand."

"I suggest you remain quiet," the officer said. He dragged her off the porch and into an unmarked car across the street from the house and locked her in the back seat. She realized the officers had been waiting out there, perhaps watching the house. Maybe this was why Samantha had asked who knew she was out there.

She kept her eye on the porch and Jane as far back as she was. She cursed when more cop cars showed up and an ambulance which totally blocked her view. She watched the EMTs unload a gurney and then head toward the house, but she couldn't see what they were doing with Jane. Several minutes passed and finally they came back into view with Jane on the gurney. It was then she saw a familiar face next to it. She watched as Detective Frost turned from Jane to look at Maura and hurried over to her as they loaded Jane in the ambulance. Frost got over to the car and motioned for someone to unlock the door. The original officer came over and unlocked it and Frost knelt down the door way.

"Jane's alive," he said in disbelief.

"Yes. Samantha had her this entire time. She is still in the house. There is tunnel from the basement that leads to a secret room. You have to slide a shelf out of the way to get to it. We left her in there trapped."

"Wait here," he said and he jogged over to some of the Seattle cops and they talked a moment before Frost returned.

"Barry, you have to get me out of here and to whatever hospital they took Jane."

"I can't," he said. "This isn't my jurisdiction and the Seattle PD has the fugitive arrest warrant for you. What were you thinking leaving Boston like that? If you knew she was alive why didn't you come to me or Korsak?"

"I didn't know she was alive," Maura said. "And I haven't heard from you or Korsak since you arrested me for murder."

"Maura, we didn't have a choice," Frost said. "We didn't think you did this, but the district attorney filed the charges against you and your lawyer wouldn't let us anywhere near you. We've been working to prove your innocence, what do you think I am doing all the way out here?"

"What are you doing here?"

"Officially I am here to see if I can find you and bring you back; unofficially we know enough about Samantha Collins to suspect she had a bigger hand in all of this than what she revealed to us. We leaned heavy on that Mark guy who finally admitted that Sam paid him to be there that evening with you. I wanted another crack at Samantha but the D.A. had said hands off, and when you disappeared well it looked even worse for you."

"I have to get to the hospital Barry."

"Ok, just let me make some calls. I will let Cavanaugh know Jane is alive and then maybe he can get the D.A. to drop the charges."

"Just hurry," she said.


	14. Chapter 14

Maura was far past the point of pacing in her jail cell. She had been taken to one of the Seattle precincts and booked in on the fugitive warrant. Even with Frost there doing what he could to explain things as best as he could, she had still been stuck there in the cell for hours. All she wanted to do was get to the hospital and see Jane.

Frost hadn't heard any update on her so she asked him to go to the hospital and check first hand.

He did have an update on Samantha though and Maura cursed herself for not letting the officers know about how Samantha also owned the house next door. There was some sort of hidden door or access to that other house from the room Jane was being held in. In the confusion Samantha had gotten into that house and slipped away before the authorities knew what was going on.

Maura was tired but she refused to try and sleep on the cot in the cell. She needed to get out of there. She needed to make sure Jane was ok.

She kept running through the possibilities in her mind of things that could be wrong with her. Jane could very easily have broken ribs from the kicks Samantha gave her, but Maura's biggest concern remained the drugs that had been pumped into her. She had tried to explain to Frost as best as she could that the doctors needed to do a toxicology report on Jane's blood to determine what she was given. But she hadn't gotten much of a chance to relay this information to him at the scene as the Seattle guys were less than accommodating to her. She understood that they didn't understand yet that she wasn't a cop-killer, but until they came to that understanding they were treating her like one. She was able to make her one phone call, which she used to call her mother to make her aware of the situation. Perhaps her lawyer could help speed things up to get her out of this cell and to the hospital.

It was another hour and half of waiting before Frost showed back up.

"How is she?" she asked coming to the bars and holding on to them in case she needed to brace herself for bad news.

"I couldn't get exact details, but she appears to be ok for the most part. A couple of broken ribs one of which pushed back and came close to puncturing a lung but didn't. She's still unconscious and they have some IV thing running into her in order to help flush out her system of the drugs. I don't think they know yet what was used on her."

"Did you see her? Did she look ok?"

"I didn't get to see her, sorry."

Maura backed away from the bars, "What about Samantha, did they find her?"

"No, and with her resources I imagine she is long gone by now."

"Barry, you have to get me out of here. I have to get to the hospital."

"I know, I know. Cavanaugh assured me that he is on it. Hopefully soon. While we wait, why don't you explain to me what the hell is going on."

She sighed knowing that there was nothing she could to do speed up the process of getting out so she started from the beginning of what she found out from Stipling and when from there.

"Mark never said anything about you being drugged. He thought you were drunk is what he told us," Frost said. "He said he got you up to the room and you passed out on the bed. He admitted to undressing you and then he said he spent the rest of night watching TV and then got into bed next you when he was ready to sleep. You apparently left quickly and without explanation as soon as you woke up."

"Did he say if Samantha told him anything or instructed him to do anything else? Was he involved in kidnapping Jane?"

"All he admitted to was getting paid to hit on you. When you passed out he made the mistake of calling Samantha to ask what to do with you at that point which is how we made the connection between the two of them."

"What about the video, did he know about it?"

Frost shrugged, "He didn't mention it, but now that we know some more questions to ask we can re-interview him."

"I should never have put myself in that position," Maura said taking a seat on the bed. "I … what am I going to do? Jane … she … I divorced her."

"Maura, you can't think about that right now. Concentrate on getting out of here and seeing her."

Maura didn't say it, but her biggest fear was that Jane didn't want to see her.

It was another 45 minutes before an officer came back to tell them that Maura was being released into Frost's custody and the Seattle PD was leaving that part of things up to Boston. They would continue to process the crime scene and look for Samantha, but Maura's status at least was no longer a concern of theirs. Barry explained to her that she was still technically a fugitive until she could answer to a judge about jumping bail. She didn't care as long as it meant she was leaving the jail cell.

Frost drove her to the hospital where they explained that Maura was Jane's wife and she was allowed to go into Jane's room. She hesitated at the door and looked at Frost. "Go," he said. "She is going to want you to be the first face she sees. I am sure of it."

Maura nodded and entered the room. The lights were off and Jane was sleeping. She had asked for a full rundown of Jane's condition but had been told that would have to wait until the doctor came by.

She took a seat next to the bed, moving it closer so she could reach out and touch Jane's hand which had a small bandage on the top of it and she flipped it over to see the same kind on the bottom. She knew she shouldn't but she lifted up the bandage and nearly cried for joy. Jane's hands were ok. Samantha hadn't punctured them. It looked like she merely made cuts on the existing scar tissue, which had been stitched up. Maura bent over and kissed the top of Jane's hand. She had been worried about Jane's ability to overcome what had happened to her, and the hands were a big part of it. Looking at the hand now, she also got angry at the mind games Samantha must have made Jane endure.

"Jane I am so sorry," Maura said. "I am sorry I put you in this position. I am sorry I didn't find you sooner. I just want you to know that I will do everything in my power to help you through this."

There was so much more she wanted to say, but her emotions finally got the best of her as she began to cry.

…

Jane slowly got her eyes to open. Hospital, she thought. I'm in a hospital. Why though? She looked around her and saw she wasn't alone in the room. Maura. She was asleep in a chair to the left of her. My wife, she thought. No that isn't right. Maura divorced me. She cast me out of her life. So what is she doing here? She is still listed as my emergency contact, Jane reasoned. Did I get hurt in the job?

She then noticed the bandage around her left hand. She lifted it, stared at it. Hoyt. Her heart rate began to increase. What the hell. She sat up although it took a lot out of her. She stared at both her hands now.

She tore the bandages off her of her right hand and saw the stitching on both sides and the bruising.

"Jane?" She looked over at Maura who had woken up.

"What happened?" she said, lifting her hand for Maura to see.

Maura immediately moved closer. "It's going to be ok. I swear," she said brushing back a piece of hair from Jane's face.

"Hoyt …"

"No, no. He's dead remember? He can't hurt you anymore." Jane kept staring at the hand except for the one look at Maura.

"Jane. Jane look at me," Maura said taking her left hand in hers again. Jane finally looked. "Your hand is going to be ok. There was no internal damage – just surface damage. It's not like last time. Your hand wasn't punctured."

"What happened?"

"Jane, what do you remember?"

"I … um … you left the um divorce papers for me to sign."

Maura closed her eyes for a moment to compose herself. "I'm so sorry. This is all my fault. I'm sorry." Her composure crumbled and she began to cry.

"Maur, come on, don't cry. You know how much I hate it when you cry," Jane said trying to move closer to her ex-wife. It didn't matter that they were divorced, she thought, she couldn't stand seeing Maura upset. "Babe, come here. There is plenty of room in this bed."

Maura knew she shouldn't but she got into bed with her, snuggling into her side as she cried. She felt Jane put a comforting arm around her.

"It's ok," Jane said. "Whatever it is, it's going to be ok."

"I should be the one telling you that," Maura said after a while. Jane didn't respond and Maura looked up at her. She had fallen asleep. Maura allowed herself to just enjoy the feeling of once again being next to her wife. She'd deal with the rest of it later.

….

Jane woke suddenly – jolted from her nightmare. She immediately looked at her right hand. In her dream Hoyt had punctured it with a scalpel again. She could have sworn she could feel it. She looked over for Maura but she wasn't there. She lay there thinking. What was Maura doing there? Where was her mom? Or Frankie or Tommy? If she had been hurt on the job … she remembered hearing Maura cry out for her. She was on a floor and a kick – someone had kicked her in the midsection. Jane instinctively felt that area – yes she was bandaged up all along her ribs. What had happened?

She used the button she found on the bed to adjust it so she was in a more upright position. She closed her eyes again – not to sleep – but to help with the headache she felt coming on. She opened them when a nurse came in. "I see you are awake Detective Rizzoli. How are you feeling?"

"Ok, just a bit of a headache."

"I'll let the doctor know. He is out in the hall talking with your wife right now."

"Ex-wife," Jane said softly.

"Oh, I didn't know. I'm sorry."

"Yeah, I'm sorry about it too. Has my mom or anyone else been here?"

"A Detective Frost was here earlier, but as far as family no, your … I think Maura said she called them to let them know but told them you wouldn't be in the hospital long so there was no reason for them to fly out."

"Fly out? Where?"

"You're at the St. James Medical Center in Seattle."

"Seattle? As in Washington?"

"Yes. You didn't know?"

"No. I want to see the doctor."

"Ok. I'll let him know."

As soon as she was gone, Jane sat up more fully. She pushed down the bar on the bedside and swung her legs over the edge.

"What are you doing?" Maura asked rushing in.

"I'm getting up and then I'm getting out of here."

"You can't."

"I wouldn't recommend that Mrs. Rizzoli," the doctor said.

"Detective Rizzoli," Jane and Maura said at the same time.

"Detective, you need your rest."

"Please Jane," Maura said.

"We're in Seattle. Why am I here?"

"I'll explain, I promise, but first you need to lie back down. The doctor wants to do a CT scan on your brain. I'm concerned about the memory loss. And an MRI needs done. Let's get the tests done, hear the results and then we can get out of here if it is all clear, ok?" "No. Give me the AMA forms. I'll sign them. I am leaving."

"Detective, please listen to your wife."

"She isn't my wife. She divorced me," Jane said staring at Maura. "Now get me the forms."

"Very well," he said leaving the room.

Jane got off the bed and nearly collapsed. If it weren't for Maura holding on to her, she would have. "You listen to me Jane Clementine Rizzoli, you can hate me if you want but I'm begging you not to risk your own health. You're weak right now. You have been drugged over and over again. You need to rest and I need you to rest. I lost you once already and I'll be damned if I'm going to go through that hell again. I know you're confused and angry and you have every right to direct that at me, but please just stay. I'll get you home as soon as the doctor clears you. I'll fly Angela, Frankie, Tommy, Jo Friday and the whole precinct here if that is what you want. Please."

Jane was so tired at this point she barely agreed before Maura got her back on the bed and she fell asleep. The doctor came back in.

"She decided to stay?"

"For now, but she'll be stubborn and want to leave as soon as she can so I suggest you run your tests quickly."

"About what she said Dr. Isles."

"She is my wife. It's true I was divorcing her, but she never signed the papers before she was abducted so we are still married. And I'll do whatever it takes to keep it that way."

….

Jane had the CT scan after she woke and the MRI was scheduled for that afternoon. Maura now knew that Jane had been injected with several drugs, including ketamine, a form of synthetic MDPV which could account for the narcotic reactions Jane had when given it. There were also some other drugs including scopolamine, which was a drug often used for motion sickness, but Maura knew that wasn't the case here. It also had the ability to make a person more open to suggestion. The drug cocktails she had been given could have caused serious damage to Jane, but so far the doctor was pleased with how they were flushed from Jane's system.

Still Jane kept complaining of a headache or being cold and then hot. The doctor and Maura suspected this was withdrawal symptoms beginning to surface.

The drugs could explain the memory loss, but again Maura suspected it might not be the drugs, instead it could be Jane's mind trying to protect her from what had happened to her.

Jane had finished eating her breakfast and Maura was talking about some clothes she bought Jane to wear out of the hospital and on the flight that evening. Even if the MRI revealed something, she could have it fixed back in Boston.

"Maur,"she said interrupting. "What's going on?"

"You should know that Barry is here. He will be accompanying us back. He was here earlier when you were asleep. Um, when we land in Boston they'll be cops there waiting to arrest me. I'm considered a fugitive. I broke bond to come out here to find you."

"What? Fugitive? Arrested for what?"

"Murder."

"What!"

"Calm down."

"How can you tell me to calm down? You were arrested for murder. How did Korsak and Frost let this happen?"

"They didn't have a choice. The evidence was pretty compelling. It's just going to take a little time to clear up is all."

"Who do they think you murdered?"

Maura sighed. "You."

"Me? But …" Jane clenched her hands. "That is beyond ridiculous. Hand me your phone, I'm going to clear this up right now."

"It's getting cleared up now that every one knows you are alive. But I did jump bail so there is a small formality of explaining the circumstances to the judge in order to get it all cleared up."

"I think we are past the time for you to tell me what the hell is going on."

Maura made her wait until after her MRI, but as they made their way to the airport with Barry who had given Jane a huge hug when they saw each other, she began to tell Jane what happened. She told her about her arrest, the evidence, tracking down Samantha, finding out Jane was alive, the drugs and all that Jane had gone through at Samantha's hands and Samantha escaping. Jane sat silent through the whole telling only occasionally asking a question. She was quiet the entire plane right, which she slept through for the most part. Maura occupied her time watching Jane sleep, worrying each time Jane moved – wondering if she was having a nightmare.

She had no idea what to expect when the got home. The one thing she hadn't told Jane was of her encounter with Mark. She told Jane about how they were still married, and was hurt when Jane didn't react either way. She had no right to expect that Jane would want to stay married to her, but she hoped.

She woke Jane before the landing. They disembarked and Maura saw her attorney and Cavanaugh in addition to Jane's family. Angela ran up to her daughter and hugged her, and she was then swamped my other hugs from her brothers.

After they were done, Jane went up to Cavanaugh.

"You're not putting Maura in lock up," Jane said to him. "She can stay up at the bureau under guard until we get this cleared up. But she's not going behind bars unless you intend to put me there with her."

"It's good to see you too detective. Now do you want to explain how it is that you are standing here"

"I didn't even know I was dead, so you may want to ask Maura. I'm still not sure I have any idea."

…

Maura sat in the bureau with a uniform standing nearby. Her attorney was on the phone, Jane was in Cavannaugh's office with her family talking. She and Jane had given initial statements. Finally they came out and Angela came over and hugged her.

"Thank you for bringing my baby girl back to us," she said. Maura returned the hug – missing the Rizzoli affection all these months. Tommy hugged her too but Frankie merely nodded her way. Although Frankie didn't think she killed Jane, he still had hurt feelings over the divorce.

"The D.A. says you are free to go," Cavanaugh said to her. "They'll clear things up with your attorney, but the charges have been dropped officially."

"Thank you sir."

"Take the rest of the week off, but I want my medical examiner back on Monday, understood?"

"Yes Lt. Thank you again."

"When do I get to come back?" Jane asked.

"You know the routine detective, get cleared by the doctors first and then you can have your shield back."

"You need time to rest," Angela said putting her arm around Jane's waist.

"I guess," she said not looking at Maura.

"Come on, let's get you home," Angela said.

"Where's my stuff?"

"In storage mostly or at my place," Angela said. Jane nodded and looked briefly at Maura before letting her family lead her out. Maura stood there.

"I'll give you a ride home doc," Korsak said. She nodded. Korsak drove her home in silence. He parked his car but she didn't move to get out. She didn't want to go into her empty house.

"After all of this, I'm still going to lose her,"

"You don't know that. Give it some time. You risked your freedom just to run after Samantha for the chance at finding Jane's body. You love her Maura."

"But I hurt her."

"You know Jane, she has to think though the heavy stuff before she makes a decision."

"I know. Thanks for the ride home."

…

Jane was barely listening to her mother as she talked and talked. She was thinking about how her life had gone so wrong so quickly. Well, not that quickly – the realization that she had been presumed dead for seven months was shock she was having trouble with accepting.

The ache inside her was back – the ache she felt when Maura had told her she wanted a divorce.

Now here she was going to her mom's because she lost her apartment because everyone had thought she was dead. It would take a little while to take care of bringing herself legally back to life. Right now all she wanted to do was sleep.

"Jane, are you listening?"

"Yeah … um … what did you say?"

"I asked you what you and Maura are going to do now."

"I don't know ma. She was the one divorcing me, remember?"

"But she knows now for sure that you didn't cheat on her."

"It doesn't matter," Jane said looking out the window. "I don't think we can fix all that has happened."

"She loves you still."

"Yeah, and what did it get her? She got hurt because of me again. Sam could have killed her. The best thing for Maura is for me not to be in her life."


	15. Chapter 15

By the time they arrived at Angela's Jane was ready for bed. She had slept on the flight, but the truth was she was exhausted already. She had put on a good show for the others, but she knew her body was far from being in top shape. She felt weak, she was in pain and she felt this need to be numb.

Her mom had given her the bed to sleep on so she downed two of the Vicadin they had given her and laid down. Although she felt sleepy, it was a while before she actually got to sleep. She kept thinking about Maura, about her marriage.

And she thought about Sam.

Months. She had lost months of her life, and would lose probably more before she was cleared to get back on the force. She would have to retrain her body to be able to pass the physical requirements of the job and the standards she had set for herself. She would also have to pass the psychological examination something she knew she would fail if given to her now.

She didn't remember what had happened to her and she wondered if she would be able to handle it if and when she did. She looked at her hands, studying both sides of each one of them. Sam had done that to her. Sam, who had cared for her after what Hoyt had done to her, yet could do this to her now.

She rolled over in bed, hugging the pillow to her face as she cried.

…

Maura sat on her bed with her T-shirt in her hands crying into it. She cried for what had happened to Jane, cried for the fact she couldn't be there for her and cried for the marriage she had ruined.

She figured Jane was asleep by now. She could see the signs of her tiredness warring against her desire to show she wasn't hurt in front of the others. That was her Jane – the one who never wanted to show weakness to others. But she saw past all of that. She saw that Jane was hurting.

She cried more because she wanted Jane to be there with her, to not be across town alone in a bed. She wanted her wife back.

…

Maura rang the doorbell, and was surprised when Jane answered the door to her mom's place. It had been five weeks since they had gotten back and what little interaction they had wasn't much. Maura's other lawyer had helped Jane take care of the legal aspects of coming back to life and she knew Jane had gotten recertified on the range and passed her physical test.

She was still waiting on the department shrink to clear her though.

"Hi."

"Hi."

They stood there a moment.

"Come in," Jane said moving out of the way. "Ma's in the kitchen."

"I'm here to see you. I hoped we could talk."

"I was getting ready to take Jo Friday for a walk."

"I could go with you, unless you don't want me to."

"Um … just give me a moment, I'll be out."

Maura waited out in the hall feeling nervous. Jane seemed uncomfortable around her, and while she couldn't blame her – it still hurt Maura. Jane came out a few moments later with Jo on a leash. She let Maura go down first. They walked along the sidewalk together, but didn't say anything until they neared a small park. There were kids playing ball on the basketball courts.

Jane unhooked Jo and let her run. She took a seat at a picnic table and Maura took a seat beside her. Jane was leaning forward, her elbows on her knees watching Jo.

"Have your memories returned?" It wasn't really what she meant to say.

"Some, not all." Silence.

"There is something I need to tell you. Something I should have told you sooner."

"I know about the guy you slept with or didn't sleep with," Jane said cutting her off. "It's one of the memories have back. Sam did a good job of etching it into my brain I guess."

"I can't begin to tell you how sorry I am."

"You thought we were divorced and you didn't actually sleep with him," Jane said standing up. "It's not like you knew we were still married. Sam played you like she played me."

"Still, I feel horrible about it …"

"Maura, what do you want?" Jane asked in a stern manner.

"I want my wife and my marriage back," she said getting up. "I was hoping we could talk, maybe see a marriage counselor."

Jane laughed. "A marriage counselor. Do you remember what your reaction was when I suggested that when you told me you wanted a divorce?"

"I know," Maura said putting her head down. "I know I have no right to ask it of you, but I never stopped loving you."

"But you stopped having faith in my love for you."

"Yes I did. I shouldn't have but I did. I got played like a fool. I know this is on me – the collapse of our marriage is my fault. So go ahead, yell at me if you need to. Point out all of my flaws. Do whatever you need to do because I deserve it and it's nothing I haven't done to myself already."

"I'm not going to yell at you."

"I might feel better if you did." She saw Jane give a half-smile. "What do you want?" Maura asked her.

"What I want is to find Sam and beat her to a pulp. But I don't even know where to start looking for her."

"I wanted to know what you wanted as it pertains to us, to our marriage. I'll do whatever you want, just please can't we give this another shot? I love you and I hope there is still some part of you that loves me. If there is then I'm asking you for a second chance. I am asking you for the one thing I didn't give you when our roles were reversed."

Jane still wasn't looking at her. "I better go collect Jo before she wanders off too far. Let me know when you get an appointment set up with a marriage counselor." She walked away without another word. Maura told herself that at least Jane hadn't asked her for a divorce.

…

Jane laid on the couch watching TV, completely disinterred in it. She had spent the first week back lying around for the most part. She had been sick, although the doctor told her it wasn't really a matter of being sick but more of going through withdrawal from the drug cocktails Sam had given her. She was so angry at the idea of it that she stopped lying around and began getting her life back.

Maura had offered her attorney up via Angela to deal with the legal aspect of being alive again. Jane had no idea that being declared alive after being dead took so much work. She had seen Maura at the attorney's office as she knew things about Jane's estate when she died.

She had thought a lot about Maura, every day in fact. She thought about the good times and how it fell apart. Every time she did she got angry. She was angry at herself for not being able to fix it, angry at Maura for not believing in her and angry most of all at Sam. She hadn't been lying to Maura when she said she wanted to get a hold of Samantha and beat her to a pulp.

She used that anger to train. She got up every morning and ran. She would come back, eat breakfast but by the afternoon she was at the department gym working out. She would take another run at night. She had only passed her physical test a few days ago, but that was just barely. It wasn't good enough for her. She swore she was going to get back into the shape she was in before all of this started. She pushed herself and pushed herself because if she didn't, she did what she was doing now, lying on the couch thinking about the past.

It always came back to Sam and Maura.

She kept seeing that video of Maura with that man. Even though she knew they hadn't slept together, it hadn't mattered. Maura had been flirting with him before she was drugged. There was intent there and that wasn't something Jane was sure she could get over.

Yet she had agreed to counseling. She loved Maura, that hadn't changed and while she felt like maybe they were both equally toxic to each other right now she knew if she didn't give it a try she would regret it. She was just so angry all the time that she didn't know if she could do this. Maybe she should call Maura up and tell her she wasn't ready.

If only they could make all of this go away and just go back to being Jane and Maura.

…

"Jane, you are letting Maura go all the talking," Dr. Renway said.

Jane shrugged, "she knows more about this part than I do."

"Yes, but you said some of your memories had returned. Have you remembered being taken?"

"No."

"What parts do you remember?"

It was their fourth session with the counselor and Maura had done most of the talking at all of them. Jane had been short with her answers when asked questions. So far Maura wasn't hopeful that Jane was buying into the idea of them repairing their marriage. She was rubbing at the scar on her right hand. "Um … I remember Sam talking to me a lot."

"Ok, what kinds of things was she saying?"

"Different stuff. About how she was going to take care of me, and how we were going to be together forever. She was… she said she would have a specialist work with my hands so I could play the piano again."

Maura looked at her and Renway picked up on it. "Play the piano again? So you used to play?"

"Ma made me take lessons as a kid and I always had to play for my grandparents."

"And you played for Samantha?"

"A few times."

"What about Maura, did you ever play for her?"

"No. I was … my hands were injured not long after I met her. I haven't played in years."

"Do you miss it?"

"What does me playing the piano have to do with why we are here?"

"Maybe nothing. But apparently it was important enough to you at some point for Samantha to make a mention of it when she held you captive."

"It doesn't mean anything. It was something for Sam to say and manipulate me with."

"But she also injured your hands again," Renway said noticing Jane was rubbing the scar. "Do you remember her doing that?"

"No."

Maura knew Jane was lying. She knew the small tell-tale signs that told her it was a lie.

"Jane, why are you here?"

"It's marriage counseling, what do you think?"

Maura could tell Jane was about to hit a wall with all of these questions.

"Yes, but are you really interested in saving your marriage?"

"You know what, this is a waste of time," she said getting up. "Even if we do save our marriage, she'll just run from it, run from it when it gets tough, and I'll be the one staring at divorce papers in some shitty one bedroom apartment where I can't even keep my dog. Then she'll jump into bed with the first man she can find. Clearly, I wasn't enough for her."

She left slamming the door behind her. Maura started to cry.


	16. Chapter 16

**A/N: Sorry it took so long to update. I ended up redoing this entire chapter. I do that sometimes when I feel like a chapter just isn't what it should be and the original, well I didn't like it so I simply had to rewrite it.**

Jane woke early and dressed to go for a run. She left her mother's apartment and stretched outside on the sidewalk before taking off. She was more than ready to not be living with her mother but coming back from the dead had delayed her getting her life back together.

But this week she would take a couple of steps toward getting that life back – a place to live and her job.

She needed to get her life back.

Jane kept going at a steady pace. She had been taking the same route most days but today she wanted to push herself even harder.

….

Maura continued to lie in bed. It was Saturday but normally she would be up by now but she didn't feel like it. After Jane had walked out of the session and then skipped the next one Maura had not felt like doing much of anything so when the doorbell rang she ignored it. Then it rang again and then someone was knocking. She groaned as she got out of bed and walked out to the door opening it.

A heavy breathing Jane was on her doorstep.

"Did you run here?"

"Were you still in bed?" They asked at the same time.

"Yes, I was," Maura answered.

Jane exhaled and looked down at her feet. "Can I come in?"

Maura moved aside to let Jane in. Jane walked in and motioned to the kitchen, "can I get something to drink?"

"Go ahead."

Jane went to the kitchen and pulled out a bottle of water out of the fridge and drank half of it down. Maura could see the sweat that now made a sheen on her skin and she thought about all the times they had gone running together. She always felt proud that she had a part in making Jane a more consistent runner. Not that Jane wasn't in perfect shape before they met, but Maura had convinced Jane to run with her regularly for health reasons.

"Seems weird asking permission to come into a home I used to live in," Jane said.

Maura didn't respond.

"You're wearing the Red Sox T-shirt I got you," Jane said, noticing it just under Maura's robe.

"Yes," Maura said tightening her robe. "I didn't have much left here of yours after …"

This time Jane didn't respond.

"I heard you are going to be activated back to the force on Tuesday," Maura said.

"Finally got the BPD therapist to sign off on my mental evaluation," Jane said. "Would have been back sooner if it weren't for that. The guys took me out last night to celebrate. It almost felt normal."

"That's good," Maura said.

Jane drank the rest of the water and put the bottle in the recyclable bin.

"I was reading your statement from the report and you said that Sam admitted she had help to do all of this, and I was wondering if she said anything to you that might indicate who would have helped or anything that might lead me to finding someone, anyone who would know where she is at."

"No," Maura said. "If I knew anything I would tell you. All she said was that money helped open doors. She never elaborated. She felt no need to explain how she did any of it."

Jane hit her palm on the kitchen counter. "Sorry," she said. "I've just been over and over the case files and … I can't find her. I need to find her."

Maura wanted to go to her, to comfort her like she would have if they were together still, but she knew she couldn't. "I want to show you something," Maura said instead. She led Jane back to the room she had used when she was looking into Jane's "death." She hadn't cleared it out and Jane walked into it and looked around. She picked up some of the papers and examined them.

"You did all this," Jane asked.

"Yes," Maura said. "I didn't know I was looking for you, I just knew I had to find your … your body. I had to do something."

"If you hadn't, she would have …"

"Jane, I'm sorry," Maura said. "I'm sorry for everything."

She started to tear up and wiped them away before they had the chance to fall.

Jane stopped herself from moving closer to Maura. She looked down at the files. "This isn't your fault, it's hers, it's Sam's and I'm going to make her pay. If only I hadn't been off my mark she would be dead right now."

"You intended to kill her with that shot?"

"She deserved it," Jane said. Maura could hardly believe Jane had said it. Jane had been angry before, but for her to say that made Maura even more concerned. She had heard that Jane had met with the BPD psychologist several times – more times than even after what happened with Hoyt – but he had reservations about clearing her for active duty.

Maura knew enough about those types of evaluations that if Jane had said that in front of the psychologist there was no way he would return her to active duty.

"All of this, can I have it?" Jane asked indicating Maura's research.

"Yes."

"I will have to come back and get it later when I have a car," she said.

"You really did run here didn't you?"

"Yeah," Jane said looking down at sweat-stained shirt. "I've had to get back into shape, not just for work, but for me. I essentially spent months barely getting any exercise so getting those muscles back has been a lot of work. So why were you still in bed? You're never still in bed at this time of day."

"I don't have much reason to get out of bed," she said. "I feel like I've lost everything that was ever important to me. I keep waiting for some guy in a suit to show up at my door to serve me with divorce papers and then I think I deserve it after what I did to you. Here you are alive after I thought you were dead, but I still lost you."

"You haven't lost me," Jane said.

"It doesn't feel that way," Maura said. "I just want to go back, back in time before Samantha, before any of this. I want you to be here with me in our home. I want to go back."

"That's not possible," Jane said keeping her head down.

"I know. That is why I was lying in bed."

When Jane didn't say anything, Maura felt like her heart was being crushed. She needed to not be there so close to Jane. "I should probably go shower," Maura said. "Come back for the files whenever you get the chance."

She didn't wait for an answer, heading back to her room. Jane knew the way out and Maura had no desire to watch her go.

Maura went straight to the bathroom, stripping down and entering the shower with its hot water shooting down on her. In the shower it wouldn't matter if she cried.

When she finished and finally got dressed for the day she went back down the hall. The door to the room with the files on Samantha was open and Jane was sitting on the floor going over some of them. She turned when realized Maura was there.

"You know it's funny, when I first became a homicide detective and they paired me with Korsak I made fun of him over the whole donating blood thing. He'd do it like clockwork whenever the time was up between donations. Then one day a cop was shot over at the east precinct and while they caught the guy who did it, we all still wanted to do something so Korsak suggested a blood drive. It was the first time I gave blood and then after that I'd go with Korsak like clockwork."

"And that is how Samantha got your blood to fake your death," Maura said. "She was a Red Cross volunteer. Frost told me that he was able to trace back some of Samantha's trips back to Boston with your donation schedule and the Red Cross confirmed she had volunteered while here."

"I never even saw her," Jane said shaking her head. "These one files, the financials, these are the ones you referenced in your statement – the ones that led you to Seattle?"

"Yes," Maura said entering the room fully. "Those are the ones Carl was researching for you. I got them from him."

"How much did that cost you?"

"Twice what you were paying him,"

"That son of a bitch," Jane said. "I will get the money back from him. He had no right to charge you like that."

"I am not concerned about the money. And if it weren't for those files I wouldn't have found you so the money was more than worth it."

"You did some good detective work."

"I learned from watching you."

Jane put the file down and got to her feet. "I need to get going before Ma worries and sends a search party for me."

"Do you want me to drive you home?"

"No, although I will take another bottle of water with me,"

She walked back to the kitchen, took a bottle from the fridge and then walked to the door. "So I guess I'll see you at work and at our counseling session."

Maura who hadn't been looking directly at Jane, looked at her now. "You want to go back to counseling?"

"I don't want to go, no, but I want to try harder."

"Thank you," Maura said.

Jane nodded and then slipped out the door.

…

"Jane, I'm glad you have decided to return," Dr. Renway said. "Might I ask what made you decide to do so?"

Jane looked over at Maura and then back to the doctor. "Because I love Maura, even through all of this, that has never changed and if we are going to repair our marriage this is where I need to be."

"That is a very good answer," the doctor said. "I hope you understand that in order to do that – repair your marriage – it's going to take work and it's going to take you talking about things that I think we all understand you don't want to talk about. You went through a traumatizing experience and that experience is going to continue to have an affect on you which means it will continue to affect your relationship with Maura. The best thing for you to do is just be honest with her."

"I know it's not going to be easy, but Maura is worth it."

….

At the end of the week Jane was sitting in her new apartment. It was much nicer than the place she had been living after she and Maura had split and she was allowed to have Joe Friday with her. She was sitting on the couch when there was a knock on the door and she picked up her gun from the coffee table and carried it over to the door and looked through the peephole. She quickly put the gun away in a stand nearby and answered.

"You could at least answer the door quicker if you are going to make me lug stuff up here for you," Frankie said.

He handed her a box which she promptly moved out of the way.

"There are two more in the car," he said motioning to her. She sighed and grabbed her keys to lock the door on their way out.

"Why are you locking the door?" he asked.

"New place," she said. "I don't know any of these people yet. How did you get in the building anyway without being buzzed in?"

"One of the downstairs ladies took pity on me when they saw me carrying that box in."

That's just great Jane thought. Part of the reason she had chosen this place was because of the added layer of security from having to be buzzed into the front door if you didn't have a key.

They made it down to the car and got the two boxes and carried them up. She was unlocking the door when Frankie asked, "So why did you send me to get these? I thought you and Maura were going to try and work things out."

"We are," Jane said. "I think it's best if we do most of our talking right now with the counselor is all. She said she didn't mind if you came to pick them up. Did she say something to you?"

"No," he said carrying his box in. "All of this stuff, you need me to help go through it with you?"

"I appreciate the offer, but no, it's something I need to do on my own."

Frankie studied his older sister a moment. Since she had returned she had been different – not that he blamed her in anyway for being that way – but this new Jane was more guarded than he ever recalled her being.

"Ma wanted to know if you are coming over for Sunday dinner tomorrow," he said changing the subject.

"Yeah, she has only asked me like five time this week since I moved out."

"She's just worried is all."

"I know," she said. "I wish she didn't have to worry."

The two siblings continued to chat about safe subjects for a while before Frankie left. Jane locked and chained the door once he was gone and moved the boxes into the spare bedroom. Maura's use of a spare room at the house had inspired her to get a two bedroom apartment. The second bedroom had it's own dry erase boards and copies of all the investigative files from her case. Now that she had the ones from Maura she was hoping to catch a break.

She spent the next several hours going through the files, jotting down notes, constructing a timeline and organizing it. She came across her medical report from the hospital in Seattle. She looked at the blood work which broke down the substances that made up the cocktail of drugs Samantha had pumped into her.

_Jane fought against the ties that pinned her to the arms of the chair. Her arms were positioned in a way that her forearm and wrists were pointed upward. Similarly her legs were also tied to the chair legs and the gag in her mouth kept her from crying out. She had woken up here, wherever here was – although she had a strange feeling like she had woken up before this but couldn't seem to remember it. _

_She wondered how long she had been gagged because her mouth was dry. She heard a door opening behind her and moved her head to look._

_"Good you're awake," Samantha said as she came around in front of Jane. She pulled the gag out of her mouth._

_"Sam, what the hell? Untie me," Jane said again struggling against the bonds. _

_"I will baby, don't worry," Samantha said touching Jane's check, but Jane moved her head. _

_"I swear to God you better untie me right now."_

_"You really are a lapsed Catholic," Samantha laughed. "Calm down. I said I would untie you and I will, but you need to relax first. I have something to help with that."_

_Samantha moved behind her again and Jane tried to see what she was doing, but couldn't. She needed to get out of here, wherever here was. _

_Samantha returned and Jane saw what she was holding in her hand. "Sam, don't," she said. _

_But Samantha knelt beside her right side with the syringe in her hand. Jane was only wearing a T-Shirt and she now knew why she had been bound with her wrists up. Samantha cleaned the area where she was about to inject her._

_"What is in that?" Jane asked._

_"I told you, it's something to help you relax."_

_"Sam don't do this. Just untie me. Whatever you've done it can all be forgiven if you just let me go now."_

_Samantha plunged the needle into her and emptied. "There you go," she said standing up and kissing Jane on the top of her head. "You should start relaxing very quickly." _

_Jane started to fight again to free herself even though she knew it was pointless. She started to feel sleepy and soon she stopped trying to move as her whole body felt like it was numb. She felt Samantha's fingers run through her hair and then a kiss on the lips. _

_She wanted to yell at her, to tell her not to touch her, but her eyes were losing the battle to stay open._

_"Good night my love," she heard Sam say._

Jane shuddered at the memory that hit her. This wasn't the first time she had remembered something from her captivity and each time she did it was never any sort of order and it always creeped her out to think how much in control Sam had been.

She went out to her kitchen and got a beer from the fridge. Her heart beat had been steadily increasing as she gripped the bottle tight.

She was going to find Sam.


End file.
